Meeting his Match
by Blissful Thinking
Summary: Arthur is considering repealing the ban on magic so he visits a kingdom where magic isn't outlawed in order to make an alliance and to understand magic better. Merlin is the king of that kingdom but he's hiding something. Will his secret drag Arthur into a deadly game of war? Royal!Merlin Slight Merlin!Whump
1. Chapter 1

Meeting his match: Chapter 1- Introductions

 _Chapter 1 – Introductions_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. I know I should be updating 'A Hidden Past' instead of this but I have been having a bit of trouble with chapter 5, the magic just won't happen! So… I decided to distract myself with two new story ideas: this royal Merlin story and a Sherlock-Merlin cross-over that will be posted at a later date. It is also mock week for me, so I am super busy revising! *cough* procrastinating *cough*._

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!_

* * *

Arthur Pendragon, high king of Camelot, and the image of courage and justice for his people… was nervous. Not a feeling he was comfortable with; he had fought in dozens of wars and defeated the mightiest of foes. So, why was he nervous about a boring messenger arriving from a probably equally boring country? His knee bounced up and down in an unsteady rhythm and his hands absentmindedly played with a piece of gold thread on his velvet sleeve. A soft, delicate hand placed itself on his jittery leg and it immediately calmed at the touch. King Arthur stared lovingly up at his wife, the beautiful Guinevere. Although if he caught anyone else saying that, they would be lucky to escape with their lives. Their eyes met and for those few precious seconds his worries disappeared and the only thing in his mind was how much he loved his wife.

"Calm down, Arthur. Everything will be fine, you will get through this," she whispered softly in his ear.

He nodded and sighed. "I know, it's just…" he began, his nerves returning.

"You feel like you are betraying your father by considering the possibility of allying yourself with a magical kingdom," Gwen finished for him, reaching her hand out and squeezing his.

"Am I doing the right thing, Gwen?" he asked, and the queen paused for a second before answering, moving her hand from his and placing it over his heart.

"What does your heart say?" Arthur's heart beat strongly beneath Gwen's hand and he knew then that this was what was best for his kingdom. _His_ kingdom, not Uther's. His queen smiled up at him and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I see you have your answer then," she murmured, feeling Arthur's warm breath against her cheek.

"Yes, whatever issues my father had with magic and its practitioners were his and I must decide for myself what my views are on it," Arthur replied, his voice firm with conviction.

"Good, because I think I hear hooves in the courtyard," Gwen said, trying to hide her amused chuckle as Arthur abruptly straightened and smoothed his robes. He looked like Gwaine had placed a spiky plant on his throne's cushion and it had just pricked him. She almost giggled aloud at the memory and the resulting undignified chase around the throne room that followed. The king listened to see if his wife was correct and he too heard the tell-tale echo of hooves against stone. He ran over the prepared speech in his mind and quickly scanned the ranks of knights, fanned out behind him. Even he had to admit that they looked pretty impressive, dressed up in their gleaming armour and blood red cloaks. Arthur returned his gaze to the engraved, oak doors directly in front of him as the voices that had been just distant murmurs became louder. He could hear his blood thrumming through his veins and for one second he let doubt sneak into his mind. The doors swung open as Sir Leon entered with a cloaked figure beside him and two royal guards flanking them. The group halted five metres in front of the throne and Leon bowed to his rulers.

"May I present King Arthur and Queen Guinevere of Camelot," he announced and Arthur carefully took in the messenger with him. The figure was cloaked in a thick green cloak that had a silver fastening at the front and a hood that hid the person's face. From beneath the slightly stained hem of the cloak, Arthur could make out a pair of sturdy brown boots. The messenger also dropped into a bow and removed his hood. The king took a double take, the messenger was a woman. Of all the people he had imagined underneath the hood, none of them had been female.

"My greetings, sire. My name is Freya and I come on behalf of the kingdom of Aelia and its king," she said, her eyes rising to meet Arthur's; they were an earthy brown, and rimmed with thick black eyelashes. She had the kind of eyes that twinkled when she smiled and seemed to hold the very essence of life in their depths. They truly were the window to her soul.

"Welcome to Camelot, Lady Freya. It is a pleasure to meet you, has your king agreed to my request?" Arthur asked, getting over his shock, faster than most of his knights, who he was ashamed to say, were gawking at the woman. He shot a sideways glance at Sir Percival and subtly nodded his head at Gwaine, whose mouth was hanging open with undisguised admiration. Percival stamped his foot hard on Gwaine's booted toes and the man's mouth shut with a quiet click.

"It is just Freya, sire, I am no lady," the messenger corrected, brushing a stray lock of hair from out of her face. She didn't seem bothered by the knights' attention and Arthur got the sense that if Gwaine so much as made one cheeky comment, she would take matters into her own capable hands. "As to your request, my king has agreed to your terms. He wishes for you to leave tomorrow, if that is agreeable to you," she continued in a soft, mellow tone.

"That is most satisfactory, Freya. How long should the journey take, for I need to know the amount of provisions I and my men will require?" Arthur said, gesturing for his manservant- a shy, quiet boy called Morris- to take a note of the amount. As much as Arthur wanted to like Morris, he couldn't stand the way the boy acted around him. It was like he was walking on eggshells all the time, waiting for one to break and drag Arthur's attention to him.

"It will take a little over four days if the weather permits, but my king has one rule he requires you to follow," Freya replied, drawing a small piece of parchment from her cloak pocket. Arthur nodded for her to state this request. "Your entourage must only consist of six people excluding yourself; I assure you that this is for your own safety and not a way to make you look weak."

Arthur paused, sucking in a deep breath; he did not like the request, not one bit. It worried him on more than one level: firstly, what was the king trying to protect them from?; and secondly, if the king did decide to turn against him then he would not have enough men to fight.

"What if I refuse this demand?" Arthur asked, a hint of suspicion detectable in his voice. Freya looked unperturbed by his query.

"Then my king will be unable to allow you to enter his kingdom," she responded carefully. Arthur pondered this answer; he did not want to lose this opportunity as he knew that the king of Aelia hardly _ever_ allowed foreign dignitaries into his country. The country was so shrouded in mystery that the only information on it was dated from before the Great Purge, since then trades had completely ceased between the two countries. However, he also could not risk being betrayed, he was putting himself in a vulnerable position by even leaving the castle without a dozen or so men.

"If you are worried about being betrayed, young king, then maybe this will help you decide your course of action," the messenger said, breaking into Arthur's thoughts and making him bristle at the words 'young king'. Freya handed Leon another piece of parchment bearing the royal seal of Aelia, a phoenix rising out of a ring of fire. Leon passed the paper to Arthur, who quickly unfolded it and began to read. On it, scrawled in curled italics, was an oath stating that the king of Aelia would not harm Arthur and his men unless given a significant reason to do so. Arthur passed it to Gwen, who also read it, giving her a look that asked her opinion.

"What is the point of visiting to set terms for a treaty if there isn't a degree of trust between both parties?" Gwen said.

"A wasted trip," Freya finished, giving the queen a genuine smile.

"Indeed. I will accept this condition, Freya," Arthur answered, handing the oath back to Leon.

"If you will excuse me, your majesty. I will inform my king of your acceptance," Freya said, bowing and striding to the window, where she proceeded to remove an amulet from around her neck and place it in the palm of her hand. The amulet was shaped in a figure of eight depicting the infinity symbol, made up of swirls of gold with a white crystal underneath. Freya closed her eyes and muttered something barely audible under her breath; the jewel glowed a bright amber colour and Arthur felt a shudder run down his spine. She was performing magic. He noticed that his knights had their hands gripping their sword handles, tapping their gloved fingers on the hilts. Leon looked up at him, a question evident in his eyes, but Arthur ignored it: Freya was their guest and should be treated as such. He was visiting the country to learn about magic so why not start now? The glow died down and Freya returned from her spot by the window.

"My king thanks you for accepting his condition and looks forward to your visit," she informed them, replacing the amulet in its original position around her neck, letting the velvet folds cover the necklace and hide it from view. Arthur subconsciously relaxed as the magical object was hidden, and he knew that his knight's hands would have moved from their swords.

"May I enquire as to what kind of magical artefact your amulet is, my dear?" Gaius asked from Arthur's left, speaking for the first time. Freya turned slightly to face him.

"You may Gaius; my king has a lot of respect for your skills. It is known as the amulet of Oryx made from the shards of Neahtid Crystals found in the Crystal Caves. It has a partner that my king carries, which allows us to telepathically communicate between long distances," Freya explained. The court physician looked satisfied at her information and tried to hide the pleased expression by raising his eyebrow.

"Intriguing. I believe your king and I will have a lot to speak about when we meet," he said, subtly insinuating to Arthur that he wished to be part of the six going. Freya nodded in response, turning back to face the king and queen.

Arthur took this as his cue to continue, "Now that we have the formalities out of the way, I will have Morris show you to your rooms."

Freya bowed again and turned to follow Morris, who was nervously waiting for her by the hall's doors. The guards opened them and the manservant and messenger exited the room.

"Well, that went well," Gwen said, standing up and adjusting her skirts. Arthur hummed in agreement, but didn't stand. He dismissed his knights and the court members with a wave of his hand before placing it pensively on his brow. The room cleared quickly in a bustle of robes and cloaks, leaving only Gaius, Leon, Gwen and his most trusted Knights of the Round Table. They stepped forward and Arthur could feel their expectant gaze on him.

"I suppose you all want to be part of my diplomatic party then?" He sighed and they nodded their heads. Arthur sifted through their names, abilities and qualities in his head, weighing advantages with disadvantages. Leon was his first choice; he wouldn't go anywhere without his loyal second-in-command and he was sure that even if he didn't pick him, the knight would break every rule to come along. Percival was his second, the man, as well as being physically strong, was the most level headed of his knights, and his third choice came hand in hand. Where Percival went, Gwaine was sure to follow no matter if it was a supposedly 'secret' solo mission. His fourth was Galahad, a seemingly average man, averagely talented with a sword, averagely intelligent - but place a bow in his hands and the knight became lethal. His fifth surprised even himself. Mordred was the youngest of his knights -barely nineteen- but potential teemed off of him. The boy had been begging him to let him come on a real mission and maybe this was his chance to prove himself. It wasn't too dangerous and there were lots of opportunities for Mordred to experience.

"Sirs Leon, Percival, Gwaine, Galahad and Mordred, please prepare to leave in the morning, I want you on the main steps at dawn," Arthur instructed, letting the pleasure show on his face as Mordred almost throttled Gwaine in his excitement.

"Thank you, sire. Thank you so much, I won't let you down!" He exclaimed, bouncing like a puppy after the more serious knights, who were heading out the door. Leon gave him a small, fond smile as Mordred proceeded to explain what he would do to anyone who dared to attack them. The doors closed, leaving Gwen and Arthur alone - Gaius had slipped out without anyone noticing. Gwen leant her head on his shoulder and he breathed in the scent of her hair.

"She wasn't what I was expecting," Arthur murmured, replaying the earlier scenes in his head.

"No, she certainly wasn't but I like her and I think I'll like the king if he is fair minded enough to send a woman, not even a lady, to do important tasks," Gwen remarked and Arthur shrugged non-committedly.

"He must trust her an awful lot, but I still don't like only being able to take a party of six," the king replied, moving away from his queen and beginning to pace.

"They are some of your best men," Gwen said confidently, watching her husband's progress across the stone floor.

"I know… but I feel like there's something we aren't being told," Arthur answered, expressing the niggling feeling of foreboding, which had been burrowing around in the back of his brain during the meeting.

"I'm sure there are a lot of things we aren't being told, that's how kingdoms and their rulers work," Gwen said knowingly, linking her arm through his and leading him towards the doors. "Now, if you don't mind, I want to spend as much time with you before you go."

Up in the luxurious guest rooms, Freya brushed her hand over a gilded silver bowl filled to the brim with water. Her reflection shimmered and was gradually replaced with that of a raven haired man. His youthful pale face would have been handsome if it wasn't for the large bruised bags under his cerulean eyes and the evident stress lines on his forehead and corners of his eyes. He was concentrating on something out of sight and wincing every few seconds as if he was being struck.

"Merlin," Freya called and the man jumped, raising his head in surprise at her voice. Noticing who it was he placed a shaky hand on his chest and breathed out deeply.

"A little bit of warning would be appreciated, my dear," he gasped, his breathing returning to normal.

"Well I did say I would scry you when the meeting was finished, and I reminded you when we spoke by the amulet," Freya reprimanded, a mock stern expression on her face.

"Ah… I was a little busy at the time," Merlin said, rubbing a hand over his face as if trying to scrub a patch of dirt off it. Immediately, Freya's face became serious.

"Have the attacks continued? Is the shield holding? Who did we lose?" she asked frantically and Merlin held up a hand to quiet her, a fond smile on his face at her worry.

"Everything is fine. Yes, the attacks have started again, yes the shield is holding and nobody has died. There were a few minor injuries but so far no attacks have breached the barrier," he responded grimly.

"Is Gili helping you with the shield?" she questioned, this time softer and with a more tender edge to her voice.

"Umm… he was but… he needed a break so right now… it's just me," Merlin mumbled, looking a little nervous.

"What?! Are you insane? You need his support otherwise you'll wear yourself out! You stupid, self-sacrificing man! You're the one who needs a break!" Freya screamed at him, waving her hands like a crazed banshee. Merlin patiently waited for her to finish her rant before even attempting to put a word in.

"I know, but he needed to sleep and I promise I'll rest tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine. But if I come back and you haven't, you will regret ever sending me away on this mission," she said angrily and with a note of satisfaction at his grimace.

"I expect I will, my love. I expect I will."

* * *

 _I have already written the next three chapters so they will be posted when my beta has finished with them. Also, a shout out to Crowley90, who writes a fantastic Percy Jackson story! Go check it out if you're into the Percy Jackson fandom._


	2. Chapter 2

Meeting his match: Chapter 2- An Unexpected Addition

 _Chapter 2 – An Unexpected Addition_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. More will be revealed this chapter and there is a little twist at the end! I only have one more exam as well so now I can spend more time writing and hopefully posting another 'Hidden past' chapter. Thank you for your continued support with reviews and I hope this lives up to expectations. Also, to Bastet who asked a heck of a lot of questions in her/his review: both Morgana and Mordred will be in the story, as to their roles my mouth is firmly sealed. Sir Galahad is one of Arthur's knights just like Percival and Gwaine but is an archer, he isn't evil. The others I'm not answering so I don't spoil the plotline for you!_

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this! The queen of Freylin!_

* * *

The sun was only just peeking over the horizon when Arthur fondly bent down and kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead. She shifted contentedly and sighed, ruffling his hair with her breath. Her face was framed with chocolate curls and her head was resting comfortably on her curled arm. Arthur stood there for a few moments longer, memorising the image of his sleeping wife before quietly padding out of the room and shutting the door with an inaudible click.

Assembled at the bottom of the chiselled marble steps were the six knights and Gaius, holding the reins of their horses. For once, Gwaine had not arrived late and was apparently in a very rare state of soberness. Descending the stairs, Arthur collected the reins of his stallion from Morris and calmly strode over to the group.

"I see Percival didn't have to drag you out of a tavern this morning, Gwaine," Arthur teased, giving Percival a knowing look.

"Well princess, I'll have you know that the Rising Sun is currently being repaired after a fist fight," Here Arthur raised an eyebrow, "No, I did not start it… I merely pushed a few people and made a few helpful comments," Gwaine explained innocently.

"Of course, and did those comments have something to do with the mothers of the fighters?" Leon asked, checking the saddlebags on his horse as he tried to hide a grin.

"Most certainly not, what do you take me for? A drunken, petty thug?" Gwaine answered, clearly disgruntled.

"Your words, not mine," Arthur teased and the knights broke out into chuckles as Gwaine's cheeks reddened. A polite cough interrupted their laughter as Freya appeared, leading her pure white mare towards the group of men. She was wearing the same green travelling cloak as yesterday but it had been washed and the hood secured to the back so it wouldn't flap when riding. The mare standing patiently beside her - to their surprise - wasn't saddled and had no reins or stirrups on; her white fur was spotless and it had an iridescent shine to it.

"Do you require some help with your horse, Freya?" Leon asked, ever the gentleman. The messenger looked confused by his question.

"What help do you mean?" she questioned, brushing a hand through the long silky strands of her mare's mane.

"Your horse isn't saddled, I wondered if you required help saddling her," Leon replied, moving to call a stable hand but a tinkling laugh stopped him. Freya was chuckling to herself, a faint blush colouring her pale cheeks.

"You are very kind, sir, but in Aelia we ride horses as they were to born to be. We do not require rope or leather to control them," she said, smiling and leaning forward she whispered something in the mare's ear. The horse snorted and whinnied affectionately; Freya efficiently mounted her steed and patted her neck fondly. "If you will allow me to demonstrate?" Freya asked and Arthur inclined his head. "Iris, _árære mín freówine_ ," Freya said, the foreign words flowing off her tongue like water flows in a stream. Beneath her, the mare shifted and reared up on her hind legs, tossing her head back. The group of men watched in awe as the horse stayed reared up for a few seconds before lowering herself back into a normal position, Freya still seated on her back.

"Very impressive," Gwaine said, whistling softly to himself. "But I wouldn't be able to pronounce half of those gibberish words."

"They are not gibberish, Sir Gwaine. They are the words of the earth and sky, words that all creatures understand and respect," Freya replied and Arthur thought he could detect a note of irritation at Gwaine's remark.

"So, does the horse obey because of the language?" he asked, trying to understand how horses could understand words and why they would follow them.

"Oh no, Iris follows them because she is my friend," Freya answered, again threading her fingers through her mare's mane and ignoring the astounded looks she was getting. Gwaine subtly moved his finger round his ear and pulled a face, causing Galahad to snort.

"If you would like, Sir Gwaine, I could show what else those 'gibberish' words could do but I doubt your king would appreciate having to find another knight to bring along," Freya's threatened icily and gave him a dazzling smile. Gwaine blushed for the second time in five minutes and muttered an- what the others assumed to be- apology.

"Okay men, mount up, we have a long ride ahead of us," Arthur ordered, hauling himself up into the saddle and waiting for his knights to do the same. He checked his party once before signalling to go; trying not to laugh at Gwaine's still flushed face. The riders clattered out of the courtyard, six brown horses and one white. They soon left the cobbled streets of Camelot behind and slowed their pace to a trot as they entered the dappled forest. It was spring and the plants of the forest were out in full bloom, displaying their curled flowers for all to see. Small birds were flittering from tree to tree as the party passed beneath them, calling to one another and a small flash of brown signalled that a deer had bounded away.

"My mother used to tell me stories of Camelot when I was a young girl; she'd describe the forests in spring and autumn. I would beg her to tell me about them every night and she had this one story of a great stone castle, where flags whipped in the breeze," Freya said softly, causing Gaius - who was riding beside her – to look at her strangely.

"How did your mother know so much about Camelot, my dear?" he queried and Freya's face became distant as if she was remembering something from long ago.

"She grew up here before the Great Purge forced her to flee," the messenger whispered and only Arthur and Gaius caught her reply, noting the slight anger.

"Ah, I see. I am truly sorry my dear, what was your mother's name?" Gaius said soothingly and Arthur doubts about Uther's actions during the Great Purge began to grow.

"Alice, her name was Alice... and she was a talented healer," Freya murmured, after hesitating for a few seconds. It was obvious that the memories of her mother were painful. However, Gaius' reaction was the most interesting, his eyebrow shot so far up that Arthur thought it would lift off his face and a look of extreme sadness engulfed the physician's face. The silence stretched on between the two riders, who were both lost in apparent grief. Arthur didn't feel comfortable interrupting, but nor did he feel comfortable just sitting on his steed. Until Gwaine laughed uproariously from behind them, and the noise made their faces clear, leaving Arthur to wonder what exactly had occurred in the silence. A lump of mud dragged him from his sombre thoughts as it splattered across the back of his head and he turned around, furious. Gwaine immediately pointed at Galahad, who then pointed at Gwaine, both trying to keep their faces straight.

"Right! Gwaine, Galahad you are on first watch tonight and washing up duty," Arthur ordered, furious at his senior knights' behaviour in front of a political messenger. His order was met with a loud series of groans and angry accusations from the two men but also with a tinkling laugh from Freya. Both men looked round at her and she blushed.

"Sorry, you just reminded me of two of my friends," she mumbled, embarrassed at being so informal in front of visiting royalty.

"Pleasure providing entertainment for you, my lady. I could throw another handful of mud at him if you wanted?" Gwaine offered, ever the charming rogue, ready to please the women (and to annoy Arthur), and clearly having regained his earlier confidence. Freya laughed again.

"I think that his majesty would not appreciate having to clean any more mud out of his hair."

"Well, if you change your mind…" Gwaine replied, winking at her. Arthur debated telling him not to hit on the messenger but decided that the outcome would be much more fun to witness.

"I'm sorry to dash your hopes, sir Gwaine but I am already taken," Freya laughed as Gwaine's expression morphed from charming to disappointed.

"All the good ones are," he murmured, wearing the expression of a kicked puppy.

By now, the group had travelled almost to the edge of Camelot territory and the sun was beginning to set. The shadows were growing longer and the steady thrumming of the night chorus was starting up as if the moon had just raised its conductor's baton. As the light dimmed and the fiery colours of sunset filled the sky, Arthur noticed that Iris - Freya's horse- was beginning to… glow. The rest of the knights were noticing as well and nudging each other; Gaius too had his eyebrow raised in amazement.

"Fascinating. I never thought I would have the pleasure of ever meeting a Miere," Gaius exclaimed, watching as the horse began to glow brighter and brighter, small flashes of colour dancing over her fur and mane. Freya too was enveloped in the strange light and didn't seem to hear them. Arthur leaned over towards Gaius.

"What is a Miere?" he asked, still watching the ethereal display in front of him.

"A Miere, or Moon Mare, is a mythical horse that legend says was born when a star fell from the sky. The Miere looks like an ordinary horse during the day but when night begins it transforms into a glowing horse that some say lead lost men home. Legend also says that these creatures have been known to bond with humans and the chosen human gains some of their power during the night," Gaius explained as the sun finally disappeared and the dancing colours on the Miere's fur began to fade, leaving the mysterious glow behind. Freya opened her eyes and they too were glowing silver. She stared confused at the expressions of awe and some mistrust as she exited her trance-like state, suddenly her face changed in recognition and she fumbled in her cloak pocket for something. A few seconds later, she drew a small vial out and downed the contents; her eyes began to dim and soon returned to their normal brown.

"Sorry, I should have warned you," she said quietly, clearly nervous of their reactions. The Miere beneath her whinnied affectionately and turned her head to stare at her rider.

"There is nothing to apologize for, my dear. In fact I should thank you for allowing me such an opportunity, it has always been my dearest wish to meet a Miere," Gaius answered, relieving Arthur who was still trying to form a coherent sentence. Freya's face instantly brightened with relief and she gave Gaius a smile of gratitude.

"Iris was a gift, we grew up together and as I'm sure, with your knowledge, you know that we have a bond," Freya clarified and Gaius nodded. "She was rescued as a foal by my partner and he introduced us," she continued, with a pointed look at Gwaine, who sighed loudly. Finally, Arthur got over his shock and ordered that they set up camp. Gwaine and Percival, as soon as they had dismounted and handed their reins over to Mordred, disappeared off to gather firewood. Galahad began to unpack the supplies they needed and Gaius went off to do… whatever Gaius did, leaving only Arthur –Mordred had moved to tend to the horses. He turned to check on Freya, who was whispering something to her horse. The creature nuzzled into her shoulder before galloping off. Arthur opened his mouth to shout and subconsciously stepped forward, but stopped as soon as he realised that Freya didn't seem bothered by her horse's departure. When she turned to face him, he raised his eyebrows in question at her.

"Iris is a wild creature, a creature of the woods; she doesn't like to be restrained. So, I let her free at night because I know she'll have returned by morning," Freya explained, removing her cloak and unhooking a satchel that was slung over her shoulder. With the cloak removed, Arthur could see the amulet hanging around her neck; it was pulsing.

"Freya, your… um... amulet is pulsing," he said uncomfortably, watching the piece of magical jewellery for any signs that it could endanger them. Freya glanced down and Arthur was surprised to hear a very… unsavoury word come out of her mouth. Dropping the satchel on the ground Freya quickly grasped the amulet in the palm of her hand and closed her eyes.

 _Merlin? Are you there? Why did you call?_ Freya asked in her mind, impatiently waiting for a response.

 _Freya! Thank the gods, I was so worried._ Merlin's relieved tones echoed in her head and she felt the warm presence enter her mind.

 _What's the matter?_ Freya thought back, feeling a sense of panic at Merlin's worry.

 _I received word that_ they _know about the diplomatic party,_ they _don't know who it is or why they are coming but_ they _have dispatched spies to scour the borders. You must not let_ them _discover it is a party from Camelot or_ they _will attack Pendragon's kingdom too._ Merlin hurriedly explained and Freya could feel his anxiety through their bond.

 _How long have we got before_ they _reach our route?_ She asked, running through various options in her head.

 _Two days tops, I can slow_ them _down a little but as soon as_ they _notice my help,_ they'll _double the attacks back here. You might want to warn the young king to close his eyes too._ Merlin answered and Freya opened her eyes. Turning to Arthur, who was standing a few feet away looking unsure of what to do, she relayed the message.

"Why? What is going to happen?" he asked, using his most commanding voice.

"We are going to be receiving a guest and there will be a bright flash of light, which will blind you if you don't shut your eyes," Freya replied, dragging her booted foot in a circle, creating a ring.

Obediently, Arthur shut his eyes, not wanting to lose his eyesight. He smelt the flash rather than heard it, as a scent of singed hair filled the clearing.

"You may open them now, sire," Freya said, looking slightly irritated at the figure, which was slowly picking himself up off the ground. He had short, cropped brown hair and was wearing a stunned expression on his tanned face. The visitor righted himself and was immediately met with three swords at his throat. Leon, Percival and Gwaine had witnessed the flash of light from afar and rushed to deal with the 'threat'.

"Stand down!" Arthur commanded before the knights got carried away. The swords lowered but weren't sheathed as they stood in a protective formation around their king.

"Gili, you idiot. Can you not even manage to stay upright during transportation?" Freya muttered, annoyed that of all the people Merlin could have sent he chose him.

"Well, I'm sorry. You try staying standing with five seconds warning and after travelling around three days' worth of distance," Gili said sarcastically, brushing the leaf litter off his cloak.

"Big deal, I've managed it," Freya muttered, tucking the amulet away.

"That's because he's gentle when he teleports you but not with me," Gili shot back, embarrassed to have landed on his face in front of the king of Camelot. Turning to face the bewildered king and his knights, Gili bowed low.

"I'm sorry your majesty, if I have caused any problems with my appearance. My king wished me to assist Freya and yourselves for the rest of the journey," Gili informed them and Freya audibly sighed.

"May I introduce Gili, sire. He is one of my king's senior knights and a member of the council," Freya said, glaring at Gili. It was obvious that the relationship between the two was somewhat strained.

"How exactly did you get here, Gili?" Arthur asked, waving his knights away to continue with their tasks and sitting down by the lit fire. Reluctantly, the knights moved away but they still shot suspicious glances at the newcomer every so often.

"Well… it's difficult to explain but I was teleported. Basically, all the pieces of my body are broken up and moved somewhere else using… magic," Gili explained, somewhat anxious of the king's reaction to the use of magic.

"Intriguing," Gaius said from Arthur's left making both men jump at his sudden appearance. The elderly physician was surprisingly stealthy when he wanted to be.

"Sounds uncomfortable," Gwaine said, from his position next to Percival, who was cooking.

"It can be if it is done in a rush or by an untrained sorcerer but generally it is only disorientating," Gili responded, rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry sire but I must speak with Gili in private for a few minutes," Freya cut in, dragging Gili away from the fire and into the surrounding trees.

"Is the king okay? He hasn't been overworking himself again, has he?" Freya whispered, bombarding the knight with questions.

Gili looked away uncomfortably before answering,"The city has suffered minimal damage and the preparations are coming along nicely-"

"I don't care about the city! How is the king doing?" Freya interrupted, grabbing Gili by his shoulders and shaking him.

"He hasn't slept in three days and he's barely eating. I don't know how much longer he can carry on without serious magical support," Gili babbled, his worry leaching through. Freya made a small distressed sound in the back of her throat and leaned against a nearby tree.

"Damn it! I wish he wasn't so blind to his own needs, I assume Julian is trying to find a way to make the shield self-sufficient," Freya said tiredly, running a hand through her brown hair.

"He has found a way but it requires dragon fire and you know that the king won't go near that two-faced lizard," Gili responded with surprising venom in his voice.

"He might just have to."


	3. Chapter 3

Meeting his match: Chapter 3- A Case of Mistaken Identity

 _Chapter 3 – A Case of Mistaken Identity_

 _Warning/s: Some violence and description of a wound._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. To the reviewer who wished to know how old the characters are in this story, they are all the same age as they would have been in season one of Merlin. Also, concerning your other question regarding Kilgarrah, I don't want to give anything away about why Merlin hates him! Once again, thank you to all those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story. This is my longest chapter ever on any of my stories, admittedly i don't have many chapters published but... whatever!_

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!_

* * *

The party had been travelling for three days before trouble found them, and it was at the worst possible time. They had crossed the border into Aelia a day earlier and the Camelotians had been on edge ever since, unused to the magical thrum that filled the air and that wrapped around Freya and Gili like a comforting mist; the ethereal beauty that the trees and plants displayed.

An arrow embedded itself in a tree dangerously close to Percival's head and the knights immediately backed into a defensive formation: horse's flanks touching, forming a circle where all angles were protected.

"What the hell is going on?" Arthur shouted at Freya, who was giving Gili a worried look.

"Bandits, sire. This section of the kingdom has been plagued by them recently but we thought, obviously incorrectly, that they had been dealt with," Gili responded, riding up beside Freya."You take them to the Falls and get them into the cave. I'll hold them off until you're all inside," Gili whispered into Freya's ear, and she nodded in agreement.

"Sire, you must follow me. We are only minutes away from entering the city and Gili can hold them off until we do," Freya instructed, gesturing for them to follow. Another arrow whizzed over their heads and Gili turned his horse in its direction.

"How can he possibly hold a pack of bandits off by himself?" Arthur asked, refusing to follow Freya until he had all the facts.

"With magic," Gili ground out. "Now get going!" he shouted and the twanging of bow strings drew nearer. Arthur hesitated for a fraction of a second before kicking his horse and galloping after Freya, his knights' close behind him. Gili smiled in grim determination as the bandits came into view, preparing a list of spells in his mind to perform. Subconsciously, he stroked the ring his father had given him and prayed that everything would work out. A warm presence entered his head as he fired off the first spell at the nearest axe-swinging bandit, settling his nerves.

 _Focus, I've got your back,_ the calm tones of his king murmured.

Gili calmly took out another bandit with a burst of wind that sent him flying into a tree with a sickening crunch.

 _To your left,_ the voice called, and Gili swung around to freeze an axe centimetres from his head. He sent it back at its thrower, feeling a small sense of satisfaction as it struck the bandit in the gut.

Meanwhile, flying through the forest, Freya and the diplomatic party weaved through the trees as arrows continued to soar past them. Freya chanced a glance behind and felt her stomach clench as she spotted two riders chasing them, bows held aloft. Turning back around, she felt a surge of relief as a large, roaring waterfall came into view. The water cascaded down between two large, mossy boulders at the top of a steep cliff and landed in a lake beneath. The spray danced through the air, creating rainbows, and the surface constantly shifted due to the torrents of water crashing into it, giving the lake the illusion of life. The party would have thought it beautiful if they weren't too busy dodging arrows. Freya charged onto the pebbled beach surrounding it and shouted over the roar of the water to Arthur,"Sire, you must trust me on this; ride into the water and towards the base of the waterfall. Wait there until I join you."

Arthur looked at the messenger like she had gone mad but a pained cry made him wheel round, away from her. Mordred was clutching his shoulder where an arrow had lodged itself and already a patch of crimson was beginning to show through his chainmail. The young knight's face was screwed up in pain and he began to sway on his horse. Leon rode over and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place.

"Please sire, go into the water and we can get your knight some medical attention," Freya called again and with a glance at Gaius, who nodded, he dug his heels into his horse's sides, urging the beast to enter the water. As if sensing the danger, his steed waded in and began to push its way towards the foaming centre of the lake. His knights began to follow him but Galahad remained at Freya's side.

"I can help you fend them off," he said, pulling his bow off his back and stringing an arrow. When the first bandit rode around the bend he let it fly and the bandit gurgled as it struck him in the chest. Freya raised her hand and began chanting as the second came into view, her shouts reaching a crescendo as an ice ball slammed the man off his horse. Galahad whistled appreciatively at the display.

"I worry for Gwaine if you can do things like that," he laughed, taking another bandit out.

"You seem remarkably calm with me doing magic near you," Freya countered, sending another frozen ball towards three bandits on foot.

"I grew up outside of Camelot and I don't share Uther's beliefs," Galahad replied, turning his head to show her the truth in his eyes.

"Interesting that you say Uther's beliefs and not Camelot's," Freya said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Arthur clearly doesn't share his father's views or he wouldn't be here now, and the last time I checked Arthur was the king of Camelot, not Uther," Galahad said, notching an arrow and sending it whizzing towards the last of the group of bandits that had followed them.

"Good shot," Freya remarked and turned her Miere around towards the water. Galahad followed her lead but paused as he heard another set of hooves pounding towards them. Carefully, he strung an arrow and aimed at the path behind him, the familiar brown horse came into view. Galahad didn't have time to stop himself before the arrow flew towards Gili. Freya gasped and shot her hand out, freezing it before it struck the knight with a rapid spell. Behind him angry shouts could be heard and Freya urged Iris further into the water. Galahad opened his mouth to apologize but Freya waved him off.

"Go, he will be okay and I need to get you through the Falls."

Galahad nodded and headed his horse towards the group of Camelotians waiting in the centre of the lake, just out of range of the waterfall's spray. Freya was close behind him and they soon reached them with only the tips of their boots wet. Freya raised a hand and shouted over the roar,

"álíefednes ús þæt fær!"

The curtain of foaming water split at her words, revealing a cave behind. Arthur understood what to do before Freya said anything else and kicked his horse onwards through the gap and onto the dry land of the cave. His knights followed, Leon still with a firm grip on Mordred, who was getting paler and paler by the minute. By now, Gili was hallway between the waterfall and the shore, closing the distance fast. Freya could make out a bleeding gash on his leg and some smaller cuts but otherwise he was unharmed.

"Come on, Gili. I can't hold it open for much longer!" Freya exclaimed, her arm beginning to shake with the effort of splitting the water. Arthur watched the pair of sorcerers with grudging respect as the last of his knights exited the water. Behind him, Leon carefully laid Mordred down on the damp rock of the cave floor and moved aside so Gaius had better access. The physician painstakingly removed the chainmail and examined the arrow wound. It was still oozing blood but the arrow hadn't damaged anything vital, he concluded, pulling a roll of bandages from his saddle bags. He expertly wrapped them around the shaft of the arrow, not wanting to remove it lest it cause Mordred to bleed out. The young knight moaned in pain as Gaius pressed against the wound, sending burning shards of agony through his shoulder. Leon bent down and gripped his hand, letting Mordred clutch it with a death grip as more pain shot through the younger knight. It was then that Gili shot into the cave, panting with Freya close behind, having released her hold on the surging water. They both quickly dismounted, Freya crouching by Mordred's trembling form.

"How bad is it, Gaius?" she asked, watching the sweat roll off the young knight's face and the white knuckled grip he had on Leon's hand.

"The wound is deep and he is losing a lot of blood, but the arrow didn't hit any arteries," Gaius informed her, pulling a vial from his bag and uncorking it. The scent of rotting cabbages filled the clammy air of the cave and Leon pulled a face.

"Mordred, you need to drink this. It will lessen the pain," Gaius said in a soothing voice, tilting the knight's head upwards so he could pour the concoction into his mouth. Mordred obediently swallowed the liquid and grimaced at the taste, screwing his face up and gagging.

"What… did y-you… make that out… o-of? It… t-tastes… awful," Mordred panted, drawing a weak chuckle from Leon, who thought of the boy as his protégé.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that question, my dear boy?" Gaius said, replacing the empty vial back into his bag. Mordred shook his head, no longer trusting his ability to speak. Gili approached Arthur, limping slightly from his leg wound.

"Sire, in order to enter the city you must be teleported in the same way I was when we first met," Gili explained and Arthur looked mistrustfully at him.

"Is there no other way? You said the experience can be uncomfortable and I don't like not knowing where we're going to end up," Arthur argued, determined to guarantee his knights safety.

"Unfortunately right now, this is the safest and most efficient method. And I assure you this transportation will be done by the best person there is and the distance is short, so the likelihood of any issues is almost non-existent," Gili reassured him. Arthur still looked uneasy with the idea but a pained groan from Mordred sealed his decision.

"If it gets my knight to safety fastest then I will allow it but if something happens, I will hold the sorcerer responsible for our transport entirely to blame," he agreed with a steel edge to his voice.

Gili swallowed and nodded, glancing at Freya to send the request.

 _Merlin? We are in position but one of the knights is injured so be careful_ she thought, not needing to use the amulet at such close proximity to the king.

 _I can't make any promises, but you must warn Arthur that I will send the injured knight, Gaius and his senior knight to the physician's quarters so that the wound can be dealt with,_ Merlin replied.

Freya turned to face Arthur, "Sire, if it is agreeable to you, Sir Mordred, Sir Leon and Gaius will be transported to the physician's quarters, so that the injury may be treated faster," she relayed and received a terse nod from the king. Although he did not like letting his men out of his sight, Mordred's pale complexion and muffled noises of pain had already decided for him. Freya readied herself for the transportation, placing her feet shoulder-length apart and tensing her muscles. The knights and Gili followed her example, while Leon gripped Mordred tightly in his arms so the transportation would aggravate the wound less.

 _Three… two…. one…_ Merlin counted down in Freya's head and she spoke the countdown aloud, to give the nervous knights some warning. When Merlin reached zero, the cave walls swirled into a boiling mass of flashing colours, so bright that all the members squeezed their eyes shut. The feeling of falling from a great height struck Arthur in his stomach and he fought to control the panic that his senses were screaming at him to succumb to. He felt like he was trapped in limbo for hours but in reality it had only taken a few seconds for the transportation to occur. The feeling of solid, unmoving stone under his feet brought him out of his daze and he gingerly cracked an eye open; immediately he regretted it. The world turned to a blur as his head spun, trying to process the rapid change of surroundings and failing. He felt like he had awoken the morning after spending a night out with Gwaine and his less responsible knights. Judging from the murmurs of discomfort on the edge of his hearing, the rest of his knights were experiencing the same side effects. A warm hand on his arm slowly brought him back to his senses and he dared to open his eyes again. The world was less blurry now but it still had a faintly fuzzy quality to it. He raised his head and saw that it was Freya who had steadied him.

"Thank you, Freya," he murmured, pulling himself together so that he could take in the area. He was surrounded by walls of gleaming white stone, not dissimilar to the stone that made up Camelot's walls. However, the floor was made of a glinting crystal substance that verged on the border between pale blue and grey; it also seemed to pulse every few seconds as if it was a living being. Sunlight was streaming onto the quartz, creating rainbows in the surface and lighting up the room with a warm glow. The room itself was sparsely furnished with a few tapestries dotted on the walls and a fireplace in the centre, carved with the scenes of a forest. The things that drew Arthur's attention though were the small translucent orbs attached to the walls between tapestries that gave off an ethereal light; they flickered like a flame but glowed with lilac light. Tentatively, Arthur walked forward to touch one, stretching his fingers out slowly in case the balls proved to be hot. In fact, they were the opposite, they were ice cold to the touch and his hand disappeared into it as if it was a ball of liquid.

A polite cough drew him from his state of wonder; Freya was waiting patiently in the centre of the room, watching with a knowing smile at the king and his knights' antics. Arthur withdrew his hand and walked back towards her, his knights falling in step behind him.

"If you so desire, I can lead you to my king now, sire?" Freya announced, the small satisfied smile still playing about her lips.

"Of course, that would be most satisfactory," Arthur acknowledged, giving his men the once over and trying not to laugh as he noticed Gwaine's expression of total wonder. The man's mouth was actually hanging open and Arthur didn't know if his eyes could get any larger.

"Good. However, I must warn you now that magical acts are performed freely in this castle and often too. If you have any queries please ask me, but any aggressive moves will be dealt with as an attack. I'm sorry to be so blunt but we have had instances in the past that we don't want repeated," Freya informed them with a hard stare, obviously whatever had happened had not had a pleasant outcome. "If you will follow me, sire," Freya continued, opening a wooden door and leading them into a narrow corridor also lined with the strange orbs. Both Arthur and his men resisted the urge to drag their fingers through them and Freya picked up on their curiosity.

"They are Sphera, our way of lighting the castle and streets. They rely on the residual magic in the air to take in light and reflect it out," she explained. "They are one of the first spells we teach our children to perform, in case they ever get lost or trapped in the dark." Freya swirled her hands and clasped them together as if catching a butterfly, when she opened them a smaller version of the orbs on the walls was floating in them. She flicked it at Gwaine and it burst into thousands of specks of light as it rebounded off his face, Arthur smirked at his knight's stunned expression.

The corridor they were walking along began to widen and become more decorated with sculptures and suits of armour. Apparently even sorcerers needed armour on the battlefield. At the end of the passage, two doors ornamented with golden knobs appeared and it was these doors that Freya headed for. Over the clicking of their heeled riding boots and the swish of fabric on stone, a low murmur of chatter could be heard. Freya reached the doors and lightly tapped out a complex pattern on the handles, causing the doors to swing open. Arthur craned his neck to see inside and he wasn't disappointed; the shimmering crystal that made up the floors of the castle had changed to a display a three dimensional map. On the map a small scale version of the castle stood with the city surrounding it and around that the ethereal forest, the travelling party had trekked through. The room itself was filled with benches coated in maps and dusty stacks of books, which teetered on the verge of collapse. On the walls, brightly coloured tapestries bearing scenes of battles and coats of arms hung and off to one side a long table stood. Adjacent to the map was a group of four people. Three were standing next to each other on one side of the chart and on the other, a tall, raven-haired man, was standing. He was clearly mid-flow when the doors opened but stopped abruptly as the diplomatic party entered; with a wave of his hand the floor returned to normal and the three others moved to his side. He met Arthur's gaze with a polite smile and Arthur found himself drowning in the intensity of the man's cerulean eyes; they seemed to hold the secrets of the universe in their depths. He hastily blinked, regained his composure and allowed Freya to lead them closer to the smaller party. The raven-haired man brushed a pale hand through his ruffled locks and stepped forward to meet Arthur and his escort.

"Welcome, King Arthur Pendragon to Aelia, it is my pleasure to finally meet you in person," the man said, raising his arm to grasp Arthur's. Arthur returned the gesture and the greeting before stepping back towards his knights. This man must be some kind of high ranking lord, Arthur assumed, judging by his appearance.

"May I introduce, Sirs Gwaine, Percival and Galahad," Arthur replied, pointing to the knight in question as he said their name. They bowed in turn and the man nodded at them, lingering on Sir Galahad the longest.

"I must thank you Sir Galahad for helping hold the bandits off, I'm sure your king greatly appreciates your skill with a bow. A commonly underestimated weapon as I'm frequently told," the man said, smiling at one of the people standing by him. Galahad had a genuinely pleased expression on his face and he bowed again. "Now, I must introduce the court, Sirs William, Lancelot and Gili and Lady Freya and Cassi," the man presented, also pointing to the people in question. Sir William, Sir Lancelot and Lady Cassi bowed, their faces expressionless and Freya gave a small wave- Gili had gone with the group to the physician's.

"I thought you said you weren't a lady, Freya?" Gwaine asked and Freya laughed.

"I do not like formal titles and you would have treated me differently if I had stayed a lady in your presence," she answered. The raven-haired man smiled fondly at her and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Always defying the stereotypes, my lady," he teased and she blushed. Arthur looked round again, wondering when the king would grace them with his presence, the throne standing behind the group was empty and there was no sign that any of the group were royalty.

"When will we meet with your king, I have much to discuss with him?" Arthur questioned, the raven-haired lord. His comment was met with a hearty laugh from the raven-haired man and the sound of a rapier being drawn, quickly followed by the sounds of his knight's swords being unsheathed. The woman, introduced as Lady Cassi, had a highly polished rapier in her hand and had it levelled at his throat.

"Cass, stand down," the man ordered, his chuckles dying with his serious tone. The sword was not removed.

"He disrespected you, _sire_ ," she hissed, through gritted teeth but when he placed a calming hand on her arm, she lowered her weapon.

"He meant no offence, I obviously wasn't clear enough," the man answered, stepping forward again, a smile on his lips. "May I introduce myself: King Merlin Emrys of Aelia," the king continued with a sheepish grin. Arthur gaped, this pale, lanky, messy-haired, boy couldn't be a king… he just couldn't. A loud booming crash broke him out of his thoughts as did the bright green flash that followed, lighting the room up with an eerie glow. Both parties rushed to the windows and stared out at the milky shield wavering above the city, a patch was shining a deep orange and small cracks pulsed around it. Freya and Merlin had not dashed towards the windows, instead Merlin had collapsed back onto the throne behind him and Freya had supported him as he sank onto the plush cushions. The king clutched his head between his hands and his breaths came out in shallow rasps as, outside, the damaged section of shield slowly began to return to its original state. Finally, he regained control of his breathing and shakily stood up as Arthur turned on him.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur demanded, taking a step forward but feeling his feet freeze as the floor beneath them pulsed a dark crimson colour. Freya placed her hand on Merlin's arm to subtly steady him as he strode towards the visiting king.

"I have in place around the city a shield; you just witnessed it regenerating," Merlin explained, unwilling to reveal the real reason why the shield had been damaged. Arthur began to struggle against the invisible bindings holding his feet still; he glared at the foreign king.

"What sorcery have you used on me?" he hissed, still attempting to break free from the spell.

Merlin sighed,"The floor you are standing on has the ability to sense it has considered your anger a threat to me and detained you and your men."

"That seems a very useful ability to possess; I imagine attacks on your person whilst in this castle are almost impossible," Percival rumbled, ever the level-headed peacemaker. In response to his statement the floor around him, returned to its original colour and he felt his feet unfreeze.

"Indeed. Although you seemed to have worked out how to free yourself from it," Merlin answered, with a nod of his head at Sir William. The knight in question made a complex movement with his hand and muttered under his breath, which caused the floor around the remaining foreigners to return to normal. "Now, as you stated before, we have much to discuss, king Arthur and I hope that the small misunderstandings that have occurred have not damaged our relations," Merlin continued, moving to sit at the head of the long table.

* * *

Leon tightened his grip on Mordred's trembling form when the scenery began to melt into the rapidly changing flashes of light and colour. The knight would have admired the beauty of the vortex swirling around him if he wasn't too busy scanning Mordred's face for signs of further pain or discomfort. The young knight was panting, taking short shallow breaths to lessen the pain and had a sheen of sweat dampening his brow. Leon carded his fingers through the younger's hair, trying to sooth the injured boy. He wouldn't even have realised that they had arrived if Gaius hadn't placed a wrinkled hand on his shoulder.

"Sir Leon, I must tend to Mordred now and he needs to be on a bed," Gaius calmly instructed, letting a little of his fondness for the boy bleed into his voice. Leon nodded and gently lifted Mordred onto the nearest bed before taking a step back, to give Gaius some room. He felt the hand leave his shoulder as Gaius got to work, stripping the top layer of armour and undershirt off Mordred to allow him access to the wound. He unwrapped the soiled bandages that he had been placed around the injury earlier; the arrow was still in Mordred's shoulder as it acted like a plug, blocking the majority of the blood from escaping.

A bustling movement caught Leon's attention as a wizened man entered the room, arms full of fresh bandages and a bucket of steaming water as well as vials that Leon didn't recognise. Gaius also looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry if we are intruding, but we just appeared here and I wanted to make sure this young man was out of danger," Gaius explained to the elderly man, who it seemed must be the royal physician, judging by his similarities to Gaius.

"Don't worry, I was informed by my king that you would be coming and went to gather the necessary things," the foreign physician replied with a friendly smile on his face.

"You don't keep bandages in your chambers?" Gaius queried, confused as to why an obviously experienced physician didn't keep the necessities on hand.

"Ah, you must think me quite the incompetent doctor but usually I don't have to use bandages," the man said, chuckling as he handed over the bandages and placed the hot water on the table by the bed. Gaius' eyebrow didn't lower and the man picked up on his air of curiosity.

"Oh, silly me. Aelia is a magical kingdom so we generally use magic to heal and only resort to mundane medicine in special cases," he answered, gesturing to the chambers, which were filled with books. It was organised chaos. Gaius nodded in understanding and returned to his ministrations, dabbing a clean cloth into the hot water and swiping it around the arrow wound.

"Leon, could you hold him down? I need to remove the arrow," Gaius asked, grasping the shaft between his fingers and waiting for Leon to put his weight onto Mordred's upper body. Leon obeyed the request and placed his hands on Mordred's sides. With surprising speed for a man of his age, Gaius yanked the arrow out and placed the cloth over the wound. Mordred's back arched and he let out a raw scream. Leon fought against Mordred as the young knight bucked and thrashed, trying to escape the pain. Gaius swiped the damp cloth over the injury a few more time before moving to find a needle and thread, the local physician handed it to him with a knowing smile. Gaius nodded in thanks and began to sew the inflamed gash shut with practiced ease. Once the wound was stitched shut, he again found the other man holding a ready-made infection poultice out to him.

"Sometimes magic isn't enough, so I know my way around mundane medicine," he said with a small shrug. Gaius pressed the poultice over the lesion and starting to rewrap it. Leon relaxed his grip and moved to Mordred's head, gently wiping the sweat off the younger man's face and whispering comforting nothings to him. Gaius drew back and inspected his work, once he was satisfied that the wound was clean and unlikely to gain an infection he wiped his stained hands on a cloth. Turning to the other physician, he extended his hand.

"We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Gaius, Court Physician of Camelot."

"Julian, Court Physician of Aelia," Julian said, shaking Gaius' hand and leading him towards the only empty table space in the room, where a plate of bread and cheese was sitting. There were also three cups of water, which Julian passed to Leon and Gaius, who took them gratefully.

"I much desire to meet your king, Julian, if the legends are to be believed," Gaius remarked, taking a sip of water, which did wonders for his parched throat.

"You are as well read as the rumours suggest, Gaius. I believe you will find him most enjoyable to talk to. I have spent many evenings discussing magic with him and I think of him as a student rather than a king," Julian replied with a fond look in his eyes. "He had very little control when he was younger and he was well known for causing all sorts of trouble as his magic responded to emotions very powerfully, but as he has matured, his powers have matured with him. I used to teach him how to control it and give him spells to learn."

"Ah, so the legends are true then," Gaius muttered and took a seat on the clear chair by the table, beginning to feel the aches of riding for three days catch up with his elderly body. His eyes began to droop almost immediately and he only faintly heard the low, rumbling chuckle of the other physician as he draped a woollen blanket over him.


	4. Chapter 4

Meeting his match: Chapter 4- Running out of Time

 _Chapter 4 – Running out of Time_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. Thank you so much to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story, it really makes my day to read what you have to say! A heads up to all the Freylin fans out there because this chapter contains a sweet little scene between them well… I say sweet. What I really mean is some good old hurt/comfort._

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!_

* * *

Arthur felt the beginnings of a headache begin to develop in his temples, the slight pulsing throb and prickle of invisible needles starting up in his skull. He raised a hand and rubbed at them as if to banish the ache before it began to take full effect but the movement did nothing to ease his discomfort. Arthur tried to regain his focus on what King Merlin was saying; something about the taxes on traders when they crossed the border. It was the last point on the agenda for the meeting and Arthur couldn't wait to retire to the guest chambers and just sleep. He almost jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder; blearily he stared up into the azure eyes of the foreign king.

"… King Arthur? Are you alright? Do you require a physician?" Merlin inquired, removing his hand when Arthur appeared to take in his words. Arthur mentally shook himself and sat up straighter, trying to hide the wince threatening to grace his features as his head gave a particularly sharp throb.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you for asking," he replied, clearing his throat, embarrassed at his display of weakness. Merlin hummed in disagreement but returned to speaking about the taxes, although this time he watched Arthur more closely, observing the lines of pain on his forehead and the slight winces the man tried to hide. Deciding that the other king's discomfort was probably a side effect of the transportation spell and general exhaustion, Merlin sent a wave of magic towards Arthur and was pleased to note that he relaxed. Arthur, who was beginning to slide towards his previous semi-conscious state, suddenly felt a warm, comforting breeze wrap around him and clear his headache away. He looked up sharply at Merlin, who was gazing at him with a pleased expression on his youthful face. He nodded his thanks and began to partake more in the discussions much to the relief of Percival, who, although better than others, was not much of a diplomat and preferred swinging swords to taxes and border control any day.

The two kingdoms cleared up the taxes pretty quickly afterwards and the discussion moved towards the use of the bow as a weapon, which Arthur was quite happy to allow Sir Galahad to lead. He relaxed slightly in his chair and stretched out his legs to ease the stiffness in them, only partially listening to the conversation. The reprieve allowed him to time to observe the foreign council members and the king himself. Sir William, a cropped brown-haired man, who was currently discussing the merits of a bow with Sir Galahad, had a stiffness about him that made Arthur think that he didn't trust easily - he kept his words formal and didn't seem to display any emotion. He was clad in a simple green tunic with chainmail over the top, which was exquisitely made with the loops so small that it gave the armour a scale-like appearance. Over the top of one shoulder Arthur could make out the tip of a bow, which must have been strapped to his back and there was no doubt a sheath attached to his belt. And judging from his display earlier he had some ability to do magic.

Sitting on the right-hand side of King Merlin was Lady Cassi. The lady had a stormy air to her as if she was going to suddenly explode; her cheekbones cut angles in her face, adding a hint of mystery to her being. Her body was willowy and Arthur didn't doubt her capability with a sword after the near miss earlier. she obviously had toned muscles hiding underneath her fitted blue tunic and breeches. A simple braided plait kept the hair out of her face. It was her eyes, like Merlin's, that he found most unnerving; they seemed to follow you about the room and assess your every move. She was like a hawk watching its prey.

Finally, he settled his gaze on Sir Lancelot, the man whom Arthur found himself most at ease with. The man had a rugged quality about him, reflected in his ruffled brown hair and slight stubble. Unlike Sir William, he was in a less formal white tunic with brown breeches and no armour but he wasn't weaponless. An engraved dagger hung from his belt that Arthur had noticed earlier and he hadn't missed the minor bulges in each boot that pointed to more concealed knives. His eyes held a more jovial spark than the others too, as if not hardened by life's hardships and he was by far the most informal of the council, laughing at the argument taking place over which wood was the best for a bow.

Arthur was about to break up the argument and request the meeting be adjourned when he felt his gaze drawn by the King of Aelia. Merlin's face was almost imperceptibly tensed like he was fighting to hide a grimace of pain. There were lines too, which Arthur was sure weren't there when they had first been introduced. The man was hiding something and from the looks Freya was giving him, he wasn't the only one to spot it.

"I am afraid that bows are neither mine nor Percival's greatest interest, as enthusiastic as you all seem to be, and I would much appreciate some rest." Arthur broke in, drawing a relieved sigh from Percival who was indeed on the verge of resting his head on the table.

"I agree, King Arthur. I believe we can settle any other matters tomorrow afternoon as I have important issues to attend to in the morning, but you may, if you so desire, watch my knights train," Merlin offered, standing up and walking over to clasp wrists with Arthur.

"That sounds most agreeable, and I think we are past the title base by now - call me Arthur," Arthur stated with a pleasant smile, he couldn't wait to watch his men thrash Merlin's when they visited the training session. The foreign king's reaction was unexpected to say the least; the man's face lit up.

"Thank the gods! I hate using titles but some royals and nobles dislike me not using them so… I thought I had better wait it out," Merlin grinned, his court all rolling their eyes at his sudden mood change. "You may call me Merlin, by the way."

"Right…"

"Freya, could you show them to their rooms please?" Merlin asked with another smile, this time aimed at the lady.

"Certainly, my lord. If you will follow me please," Freya said, deliberately exaggerating the 'My Lord', clearly to wind Merlin up. Arthur was once again taken aback by the informality with which the pair conducted themselves; he thought that he and his men were the only ones. He didn't notice the worry and slight frustration that laced her voice. Merlin rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like 'mutiny' under his breath. Arthur nodded again to Merlin and followed Freya out of the throne room. As soon as the visiting party had left the room, Merlin sank slowly into his chair and closed his eyes.

"Freya is going to murder you when she gets back," Lady Cassi remarked, moving to stand by the window.

Sir Lancelot laughed a deep rumbling chuckle. "That she is. You had better prepare yourself for the tongue lashing you are about to receive."

Merlin just groaned and rubbed his temples; unlike the headache he had cured Arthur of, he knew his would take more than a simple spell to heal. It was a raging pulse that crashed inside his skull, like a restless ocean during a storm.

"They came too close this time to breaking through, another hit like that and…" Merlin didn't finish; he didn't have too. They all knew what would happen if he wasn't able to maintain the shield, what it would do to him and what the consequences would be to the people below. Sir William placed a hand on his king's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"You know you could let me take some of the strain of the spell," he suggested, already knowing the answer.

"Will… the strain would be too much for you. Even for me it is taxing and I won't have to keep it up for much longer anyway," Merlin replied, his voice laced with exhaustion. "The support stones are almost ready, according to Julian." Will just harrumphed at his friend, clearly unimpressed by the ability of the stones.

Gathering his waning strength together, Merlin shakily stood and blinked rapidly to clear his vision.

"Right, I have to check in with Julian about the injured knight, speak to the scouting party and try to avoid Freya for the next few hours," he said, setting his shoulders and beginning to move towards the doors. "Try not to cause any trouble while I'm busy," he called over his shoulder, a small cheeky smile on his face, chasing the worry lines away. His comment was met with a series of sighs and eye rolls from his court as they tried not to smile at their king.

"If it's anyone who should be keeping out of trouble then it's him," Lancelot mumbled, stamping his foot on the floor, causing the 3D map to spring up.

* * *

Freya quickly led them to a corridor, which looked remarkably similar to the corridors in Camelot; it had the same stone walls and floor, the same torches and tapestries too.

"Am I right in thinking that you have tried to replicate my castle here?" Arthur asked.

"You are correct, sire. My king thought that you would be more comfortable in a familiar environment," Freya answered, gesturing to the doors that lined the corridor. "The rooms are also in the style of your home and I hope they are to your satisfaction." Arthur nodded his thanks and carefully opened the door to the nearest room; it was in fact unnervingly similar to his rooms at home. Freya waited to see if he would go inside but instead he closed the door after a few seconds of examination.

"If it is no trouble, I would like to see my injured knight," he stated, gesturing for his knights to go into the rooms prepared for them. Percival looked hesitant to leave his king but decided against openly saying so.

"Certainly, I will be happy to show you to the physician's chambers," Freya said, recognising the look on Percival's face as one Sir William would often give Merlin when he requested possibly dangerous solo errands. She sent him a calming smile and was pleased to note that he returned it before entering his rooms. She began to retrace her steps down the corridor with Arthur by her side; they passed various corridors, stairwells and entrances before they came to an ancient wooden door. Freya knocked once and was pleased to hear Julian's friendly voice call for them to enter.

Inside Leon looked up in surprise as Arthur entered the room, making a beeline for Mordred and him. They were seated in almost the same spots as the night before except that Leon was sat in a chair and Gaius was checking on Mordred's wound. The young knight was conscious and grimacing slightly as the physician prodded his injury.

"Gaius, how is he doing?" Arthur asked, concerned by Mordred's pallid complexion and pained grimace. Gaius looked up,

"He is out of danger but will have to have his arm in a sling for a week or so until the wound heals," Gaius replied, replacing the bandage. Arthur nodded in relief and checked Leon over. His second-in-command was unharmed if a little rumpled, probably from sleeping in a chair.

"Are the others okay?" Leon questioned, having not had any news since he had been separated from the group.

"Yes, everyone is fine and settling into the guest chambers. I have spoken to the king and sorted a few of the treaty points already," Arthur informed him with a fond smile at Leon's worry. "You look like you could do with a kip in a real bed though." Leon ran a hand through his messy ginger locks in embarrassment before sheepishly nodding. His muscles ached from the previous days of hard riding and a night in a chair hadn't helped them.

"I would be happy to take you to your rooms, Leon," Freya offered, itching to track down Merlin and, after checking on his health, give him a piece of her mind.

"Thank you, Freya, that would be most agreeable," Leon murmured, trying to stifle a yawn he could feel threatening to escape. So with a nod to his king and a whispered thanks to Julian, the pair exited the chambers. Arthur took up Leon's abandoned chair and scanned Mordred's face for any signs of pain or discomfort. The young man looked depressed rather than in pain.

"What is the matter, Mordred?" Arthur asked quietly. Mordred sighed and paused before answering.

"I failed my first mission. I endangered the whole party by getting injured and it wasn't even a proper skirmish," the knight mumbled, a blush covering his pallid cheeks.

"You didn't fail. I'm alive, the others are alive and the treaty is in progress. What else could have gone right?" Arthur said, trying to imbue the pride he felt for the boy into his voice.

"I still got shot," Mordred muttered but this time his voice wasn't so certain. Sighing, Arthur placed a hand on his knight's uninjured shoulder and squeezed.

"You did fine; getting injured isn't a sign of weakness unless you act without thinking and do something stupid. Your injury wasn't your fault; you had no idea that that arrow was going to hit you so stop blaming yourself," Arthur said, giving Mordred's shoulder another squeeze. This time Mordred smiled, even if it was a small one. Arthur returned it gladly and stood up, moving to speak to Gaius. The physician was conversing with another man of a similar age. Gaius nodded at the man before moving to stand with Arthur out of earshot.

"Gaius, I hope to clear up all the treaty points tomorrow afternoon so I would like you with me. After that I would like to experience the kingdom and get to know the king better... but I can't help feeling like there is something he is hiding from me," Arthur explained, his spine prickling as if insects were running up and down it.

"What do you think of the king?" Gaius asked.

"He is… unusual. I mistook him for a lord when we first met but there is something about him, something… ancient," Arthur said, causing Gaius to raise his eyebrows.

"I believe that may have something to do with the king's abilities. He is rumoured to be the most powerful warlock ever to have lived," Gaius replied, earning a disbelieving look from Arthur. "I have been speaking with Julian, the court physician, who confirmed the rumours." Arthur still didn't look convinced but vowed to study Merlin more carefully.

As if on cue, Merlin strode into the room, a look of intense concentration on his face, but as soon as he realised he wasn't alone, he stopped.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something? I was just coming to check on one of my projects," Merlin said, a light flush peeking out of the top of a blue neckerchief that Arthur had previously ignored. It now seemed unusual that Merlin would wear something that was a big trend among servants.

"No, I was just checking on Sir Mordred and Gaius," Arthur answered, still staring at the neckerchief. Merlin looked over at the Camelot knight lying in the bed; a look of bone weariness and slight pain flashed across his face before concern replaced it.

"Ah, right… well Julian could I speak to you upstairs please," Merlin stated distractedly, rubbing at his forehead and moving to ascend a narrow flight of stairs into the room above. Julian quickly followed him, leaving Arthur and Gaius to share a look of confusion.

In the small upper room, Merlin sank into a crooked chair, head buried in his hands. Julian worriedly started to place a hand on his king's forehead to check for a fever but Merlin stopped him.

"Don't," he panted, "I have very little control right now and if you touch me I might offload the shield spell onto you." Julian nodded, retracting his hand and settling on a stool directly in front of Merlin.

"Am I correct in assuming that the bang I heard was a hit to the shield?" Julian asked, noting Merlin's harsh breathing and shaky hands. The king nodded.

"I almost lost control, it almost broke through. I can't support the spell for much longer and if another shot is fired I won't be able to repair it," Merlin said, a hint of desperation entering his tired voice. "I _need_ those support stones."

"They are at this minute being integrated within the walls but it could take another hour or so before you are able to release control over the spell," Julian clarified, having received a report from the sorcerers in charge of the stones a few minutes before Arthur arrived. "I will also need you to summon Kilgarrah - Aithusa is currently monitoring _their_ movements - and dragon fire is the only thing that will imbue the stones with enough power," Julian said quietly, worry lines mingling with his wrinkles. Merlin's head shot up.

"You know that I won't let that cowardly beast anywhere near this kingdom, not after what he did!" Merlin spat, anger distorting his usually pleasant features.

"Without him the spells won't work, you know that. I will see you in under an hour by the walls," Julian replied, unperturbed by his king's anger and in a tone that brokered no argument.

"The sooner the better, the sooner the better," Merlin muttered, lifting his head to smile shakily at Julian, realising that he had no other choice but to summon the elder dragon. The physician could see his king digging deep into his magical reserves, attempting to draw enough power to keep the shield functioning for the time required.

"I will send them some extra sorcerers to see if the time can be reduced," Julian stated, already scribbling out a note with the information on. He sealed it, sprinkled some blue powder over it and set fire to it. The letter dissolved in flames and reappeared in the sorcerer in charge's hand.

"Thank you, Julian. I will see you in an hour then," Merlin said, standing and placing a hand on the wall to steady himself. "I have to return to the throne room to plan, and hopefully avoid running into Freya for the next hour," he muttered, moving out of the room and descending the stairs. Arthur looked up sharply as Merlin reached the bottom and nodded at him before leaving the chambers. He noted the slight tremors in the man's hands and the stiffness with which he held himself and looked to see Gaius doing the same.

"I suggest that you do some enquiring of your own, sire. That young man is not well and if I had to diagnose him, I would say that he is suffering from exhaustion, but I highly doubt that it would be the usual kind," Gaius assessed with a look of sympathy on his face. Arthur watched Gaius shuffle over to Mordred's side and settle into the chair with a few cracks as his bones adjusted.

"I will check in on Mordred's condition tomorrow," Arthur said, moving to return to his quarters.

* * *

Merlin made it halfway down to his destination before he was ambushed by Freya. He really should have expected it; he knew that his incident in the throne room had worried her and when she worried… well… there was usually hell to pay later. Freya dragged Merlin into a nearby empty chamber and slammed the door shut, her expression livid.

"You better explain right now why you almost collapsed and why you sent me away with Arthur afterwards!" she raged on the verge of tears, her cheeks turning bright red and her hands clutching her tunic so tightly that the knuckles were white. Merlin sighed and leant against the wall behind him. He closed his eyes as if drawing the strength to answer.

"I almost collapsed because I have been maintaining the shield alone since you were gone," Merlin said, his voice barely above a whisper. Freya pressed a hand to her mouth as tears spilled out of her eyes.

"Gods, why would you? You know what using that amount of magic will do to you," Freya accused. Merlin sighed again, rubbing at his face with his hands.

"What would you have had me do?! Gili was already exhausted from supporting it for a few hours so I couldn't ask him to and when he recovered you needed him. Will's magic isn't strong enough either. No one else has the magical ability to hold the shield except me," Merlin shot back, his frustration sharpening his words. Freya gently laid a hand on his cheek, drawing his eyes away from the floor and onto hers.

"I know, I know… I just don't want to lose you," Freya whispered, tenderly resting her forehead against his, she felt him stiffen and start to quiver. Merlin could feel his magic threatening to leech into her, his control was slipping and he knew that he couldn't stop the spell transferring to her if he didn't move away.

"It's the spell, Freya. I can't be near your aura or it'll transfer to you," Merlin panted, regaining some of his control as she moved away. Freya's slightly hurt look vanished at his explanation.

"Breathe, Merlin, just concentrate on breathing. I'm out of range," Freya comforted, watching on as his breathing calmed slightly at her words. "How long until the support stones are ready?"

"Fifty minutes or less," Merlin answered, momentarily taking his mind off the inner turmoil.

"Good. All you have to do is hold on, my dear," Freya said. "You just have to hold on."


	5. Chapter 5

Meeting his match: Chapter 5-

 _Chapter 5 –_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. Thank you so much to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story, it really makes my day to read what you have to say! Also, I am trialling an idea on my bio, where I post how many words I have written for the next chapter of each of my stories so you guys know roughly how long it will be until the next chapter is posted. Drop me a review of what you think of this idea. To all my 'A Hidden Past' fans, I'm sorry it's taking a while to update but it takes ages to check what I have written with the episode and transcript._

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!_

* * *

Arthur relaxed into the window seat and stared out at the scene below. He had spent the last twenty minutes resting and taking a quick bath to remove the dirt that had accumulated on his body over the last few days. Now he was watching the busy courtyard outside his window; it seemed to be the main route between the castle entrance and the inner city. It would have been similar to the routine in Camelot if it wasn't for the extraordinary amount of magic being used. Servants were bustling along the cobbled stone levitating laundry and plates of food; a young stable boy was cleaning a saddle with a few hand gestures; and at the far end of the courtyard a knight (judging by his clothing) was causing a flower to grow in a maid's hair. To see such normal aspects of life done by magic was… disconcerting to Arthur, who was still trying to get his head around the concept of good magic. Although one thing he didn't expect to see was King Merlin, slowly walking through the bustle of the courtyard. He opened the window to see if he could catch what was being said as the king approached some of the people in the courtyard. Arthur just caught the friendly greeting issued to a stable boy and the hasty change of subject when a concerned knight appeared. Once the knight seemed to be satisfied that the king wasn't about to keel over a maidservant strode over with a note. The king quickly scanned it and Arthur only just heard the enquiry about the maid's husband from Merlin as he pocketed the note. It seemed that Merlin knew the castle servant's quite well, better than Arthur, and he prided himself on knowing all their names.

A bellowing roar had Arthur reaching for his sword and scanning the area for the beast that had made the sound. He couldn't see anything that wasn't human other than a tabby cat and unless this kingdom had an unusual species of cat then the noise certainly hadn't come from that cat. Arthur observed Merlin stiffen in anger and narrow his eyes; whatever had made the sound was clearly no friend of the kingdom. Arthur turned in surprise as his door burst open and Gwaine rushed in, hand on his sword.

"Did you hear that, sire?" Gwaine asked, and the formal title told Arthur that Gwaine was worried.

"Yes, and I intend to find out what made it. Starting by following King Merlin, who did not look happy to hear it," Arthur said, striding out the door with Gwaine on his heels. The pair made it to the castle's main entrance just as Merlin reached the opposite end of the courtyard. Another booming roar shook the castle walls and the pair picked up their pace, decreasing the distance between them and the foreign king who was walking considerably slower than them.

They tailed Merlin all the way to the outer citadel walls where he stopped to speak to a large group of people in robes; Arthur noticed that Julian was among them. They leaned against a shadowed house wall just within earshot.

"Are all the stones prepped and in place?" Merlin asked distractedly, his attention focused elsewhere.

"All we need is for them to be activated," Julian replied in a low voice and Merlin sighed loudly.

"Let's get this over with then," he muttered resignedly, throwing his arms in the air he bellowed at the top of his voice in a language neither of them recognised. Gwaine took a step backwards at the sheer power in the king's voice as his shouts reached a crescendo. Arthur too almost backed away but quickly reminded himself that he was a king and king's never felt fear because of a few words, whatever language they were in and no matter if they were uttered by a sorcerer. Merlin lowered his arms and took a shaky breath in, placing his hand on Julian's arm to steady himself. The physician looked concerned as he braced his panting king, running a methodical eye over his ruler when a large scaly foot thudded onto the cobbles. Arthur did take a step back this time as the dragon padded into sight. He drew his sword, preparing to attack the beast when Merlin released his grip on Julian and strode towards it, his eyes flashing.

"You will do exactly as I say, right now and then leave!" Merlin commanded harshly to the golden dragon towering over him. The beast laughed, and it was a cruel sound. He lowered his head and stared at the king with his beady black eyes.

"Why would I do that, young king?" he asked and Merlin's eyes narrowed further.

"Because otherwise I will command it of you, and you cannot refuse a Dragonlord's command," Merlin responded icily. Again the dragon laughed, its glowing belly shaking in mirth.

"I don't think you have the strength currently to command anything of me," the dragon spat, and when Merlin started to deny it the dragon interrupted him: "Don't deny it, young one. I can sense the drain the shield spell is causing. I'm surprised you're still standing with the amount of pressure your magic is under."

Merlin shuddered and reached for Julian again as his legs shook. Arthur wasn't the only one to glare up at the dragon now.

"Just breathe fire on the stones and go," Merlin said lowly, ignoring the dragon's smug expression.

"Not even a please? Most other sorcerers would be bowing before me and offering me whatever treasures they possessed for my help," he snorted, padding over to the wall, talons clicking on the stones.

"I will never bow to you, not after what you did to my mother and Freya!" Merlin shouted angrily, his breaths coming in harsh pants.

"You forget that it was _your_ command that killed _your_ mother. I was only following _your_ instructions," the dragon growled, opening his huge mouth to release flames onto the walls. The golden flames spread over the implanted stones until they glowed a fierce orange, burning brighter than the sun in the midst of summer. They only receded when a pulse of green lit up the walls and Merlin staggered backwards as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Two of the figures in robes grabbed him just in time as he collapsed to the ground. Gently, they lowered him and allowed Julian through to check the king. The dragon moved away from the shimmering walls and towards the downed king but was intercepted halfway by a line of people, refusing to let him get any nearer. Arthur stared at the determination on their faces as they stood up to a dragon, not many people would do that. Clearly Merlin inspired loyalty.

"Oh, how brave you are, protecting the cursed life of your king. When he can't even protect his own mother and beloved," the dragon taunted, his thin lips curling to reveal the fangs underneath.

"The only person at fault was you, and our king did everything in his power to save them," someone in the line shouted angrily.

"You tricked him," another person called out. Kilgharrah bared his teeth at the line.

"Keep your mouths shut or I'll make sure they are permanently. It's not my fault that he wasn't strong enough to deflect those arrows," the dragon hissed, turning away from the group and spreading his wings, the sharp tips resting against the walls. He roared for the final time as he lifted off the ground and soared into the air. As soon as he was out of sight, the group rushed over to their downed king, who had his eyes closed tightly and fists clenched. He tiredly waved a hand at them and got to his feet, still leaning against one of them for support.

"I'm fine, just feeling the aftereffects of the spell. Thank you for what you did and get some rest, for I sense that this won't stop _them_ from trying something else to breach our walls," Arthur heard Merlin say tiredly, beginning to slowly walk back in the direction of the castle. Arthur nudged Gwaine and the two quietly slipped away, retracing their steps to Arthur's rooms.

"What the hell is going on in this kingdom?" Gwaine muttered, when they reached the relative privacy of Arthur's rooms.

"I don't know, but I'm beginning to think that whatever it is, Merlin should not have kept it hidden from us. If my people are in danger, I want to know about it," Arthur replied harshly, trying not to storm down to the throne room and confront the king right that very moment.

"We're supposed to be eating with the king tonight, perhaps you should bring it up then," Gwaine suggested, noticing Arthur's angered state.

"I certainly will!" Arthur muttered, reclining into a chair and deciding exactly how he should pose his questions.

* * *

Freya was waiting on the top step of the central stairway leading to the main entrance when Merlin appeared, supported by one of the many sorcerers in training. She impatiently tapped her booted foot on the stone as Merlin thanked the sorcerer and proceeded slowly towards where she was standing. His steps had been measured and languid but when he saw who was waiting for him at the top they increased in speed until he was almost bounding towards her. He flew into her arms and they embraced, burying their faces in each other's shoulders. Merlin sagged against her as if all the strength that he had used to reach her had left him.

"Is that foul beast gone?" she asked, her question muffled by his tunic.

"Yes, the support stones are working as they should be. The spell is no longer fully reliant on my magic," Merlin replied and his voice was full of relief and exhaustion. They stood there for a few more moments just enjoying each other's presence until the clock tower high up above them chimed four. Merlin reluctantly withdrew his arms and sighed, brushing a stray curl from away from her forehead.

"I have to make sure that the preparations for the feast this evening are complete and I have to check that the others have got our next move planned," Merlin said finally, holding out his arm to her. "Would you care to accompany me, my lady?"

Freya linked her arm with his and smiled. "Certainly, my lord," she replied, letting him lead her towards the throne room. As the couple passed through the corridors, a few knights and servants smiled fondly at them, not that they noticed; they were too engrossed in each other's company to pay any attention to what was happening around them. When they reached the throne room, Merlin waved a hand and the doors swung open, revealing Lady Cassi, Sir William and Sir Lancelot drawing lines on the 3D map currently displayed on the floor. They looked up sharply as the couple entered, pausing their heated discussion to see who had come in.

"Any developments on the plan for our next move?" Merlin asked, moving away from Freya's side to examine the scrawled notes on the map. It was showing a mountainous region just to the north of the city, which was marked with a red flag. Several caves were highlighted in the sides of the mountains and a river flowing through them had a purple line winding through it.

"We have an idea but whether it is possible or not is up to you, sire," Sir William responded, gesturing with his hands to one of the caves.

"Aren't those the Anima caves, twin of the Crystal Caves in Camelot?" Freya asked, joining the circle.

"Unfortunately yes and it is also the main energy supply for their weapon. They seem to be drawing the magical energy from the crystals inside and harnessing it. Julian thinks this is why the attacks from it were so powerful," Sir William continued. Merlin had been silent the entire time, his eyes closed and one hand pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You do realise that it is almost impossible for me to enter those caves, especially not alone. I would require an anchor, someone who doesn't possess learnt magic but is pure of heart," Merlin said quietly, knowing that he was ruling three out of five of his court with the magic restrictions.

"That still leaves two of us able to be your anchor," Sir Lancelot added, gesturing to himself and Sir William.

"As well as this, those crystals will give me visions that I won't be able to stop. If you need my magic to break the magical drain they will surely have set up, I will need to be fully aware of my surroundings," Merlin continued.

"Won't a good slap do?" Gili called from where he had just entered the room through a side door.

"It would have to be a very strong, magically enthused slap that would probably break my cheekbones. That is not an offer to give me one, Gili," Merlin hastily added when Gili raised his hand.

"I wasn't going to…" Gili said sulkily, lowering his hand. Merlin turned back to Will and Lancelot, a frown creasing his features.

"Is there no other way of breaking the connection between the weapon and the source?" Merlin asked, scanning the map again.

"Not that we know of, sire," Lady Cassi answered.

"Then that is what must happen. I will enter the caves with an anchor and once I have managed to break the connection, the rest of the army will attack their main base. Gili, you will be in charge of defending the castle, make sure that they don't manage to invade while the battle is going on. Freya, I will need you and Julian to deal with wounded; I will have a teleportation point on the outskirts of the battle field linked with the infirmary set up. Cassi, I want you leading the majority of the army on a direct assault against their base, we will discuss the details of the attack later,"

Merlin instructed, turning to face each person as he spoke to them. Finally, he looked at Lancelot and Will, the two remaining members of his court.

"Will, as much as I know you want to be my anchor, your skills with a bow will be needed elsewhere. I want you to lead the archers and space them out around the base so that they can provide aerial support," Merlin ordered, holding up a hand to stop Will's protests.

"Lancelot is quite capable of anchoring me and providing me with protection," he continued, smiling at the rugged knight opposite him. The man beamed with pride at the praise and stood a little straighter. Merlin returned the smile and scanned the map again, looking satisfied.

"If everyone is clear on what they are doing then I need to check on the preparations for tonight's banquet," Merlin said, pausing to allow time for anyone to ask any questions.

"When will you set up the link for the infirmary... and will you have enough energy to do it?" Freya asked looking concerned; she knew how much magic it took to set those teleportation points up.

"After a good night's sleep I will be at almost full strength again," Merlin answered, looking forward to his comfy bed immensely, he was already imagining being able to lay his head on the pillows and let the downy softness sooth his headache.

"Right, I can practically hear cook calling," he said finally, drawing a wry smile from his court as they imagined the tongue lashing he was about to receive for keeping her waiting. He turned on his heel and walked out of the doors with numerous variations of good luck called after him.

* * *

"Stop fidgeting!" Freya hissed to her king as he adjusted his crown for the fourth time in the space of five minutes. His hand immediately ceased their movements and returned to his sides but a few seconds later began to tug at his tunic. She slapped them away with a reproachful look.

"I hate wearing formal attire, especially this crown; do you know how uncomfortable it is? I keep getting poked by the claws and scales," Merlin complained, referring to the beautifully crafted crown which depicted a dragon curled in a circle with its tail in its mouth to complete the ring. Freya chuckled fondly as he tried valiantly to not touch the crown on his head.

"It may be uncomfortable but it does make you look rather handsome," she replied, raising her eyebrows flirtatiously. Merlin blushed and puffed out his chest, tossing his head slightly.

"Do I not look handsome all the time to you then, my dear?" he shot back affectionately. Freya had a response on the tip of her tongue when the doors to the room were opened and King Arthur strode in looking exceedingly regal in a crimson cloak and shining golden crown. Merlin noticed that unlike when they had spoken that morning, the king seemed colder, less friendly and more on edge. They shared the customary handshake and polite small talk as they took their seats but something was missing.

As Arthur took his seat he was surprised to see that there were a large number of ordinary town's-folk seated at tables in front of dais; it seemed like the whole city had been invited. What was even more surprising was the fact that nobles were sitting in with them, judging by the clothing differences. His attention shot back to the Merlin as the young man stood to address the hall.

"Tonight we are celebrating the beginning of a treaty that will bring the noble kingdom of Camelot and our own together in peace. I hope that united we will be stronger and that in the future we will become firm allies. Now, please enjoy your meal!" Merlin finished and with a sweep of his hands and a few muttered words the tables were covered in an array of foods and drinks. Arthur almost jumped as a plate of fruit appeared in front of him. Chattering started up and the clinking of cutlery and glasses filled the air as people tucked into their food. Next to him Merlin sat back down in his chair and poured himself a glass of water. Arthur frowned; did the king not drink? Merlin noticed his confused stare and laughed.

"You probably think me odd but alcohol and I do not get on," he explained, purposely avoiding mentioning the details of what happened when he got drunk and lost control of his magic. Arthur nodded his head in acknowledgement but didn't respond; his trust of the king had lessened after seeing the dragon. Merlin frowned but also didn't comment at the other king's silence. Finally, after many minutes of awkward silence between the two, Merlin spoke up.

"Have I done something to offend you, or is your mind elsewhere tonight?" he asked, making eye contact.

"Not informing me that there would be an unfriendly dragon landing in the city tends to distract you, and the fact that you appear to have powerful magic that I was not told about. Also, that you appear to be caught up in some kind of conflict," Arthur snorted irritably, causing Merlin to sigh and lean back in his chair, running a hand over his face.

"I suppose the dragon wasn't subtle and I assumed that you would guess of my magic seeing as I am king of a magical kingdom," Merlin muttered, taking a gulp of water. Arthur had to admit that he should have seen the magic coming; after all, it was logical that Merlin would possess magic, yet it just hadn't crossed his mind.

"However, I'm intrigued to know why you think we are part of some kind of conflict though?" Merlin continued, raising his eyebrows in thought. Arthur fidgeted uncomfortably, knowing that he had been caught out by the other king who must have guessed he had been sneaking around.

"I overheard the conversation with the dragon whilst taking a stroll around the city," Arthur replied, bending the truth slightly. Merlin's expression darkened.

"Well then, I'm sure you are now aware that this city is perfectly protected and safe so there is nothing for you to worry about," he snapped. Lady Cassi, sitting next to her king, placed a hand on the hilt of her rapier, having listened to the whole conversation.

"I would ask that you don't take that tone of voice with me or I will reconsider our deal... perhaps I was wrong to consider accepting magic," Arthur shot back, his anger forcing words out of his mouth. Merlin tried to keep a tight leash on his own temper as the words made it flare up within him.

"And perhaps I was wrong to think that an arrogant prat such as yourself would make a fit ally. Do not think I am ignorant of the burnings that went on within your kingdom or the prejudices that still exist within your walls. I was willing to overlook those in order to see the bigger picture but apparently you aren't as open minded as me," Merlin answered angrily, barely stopping his magic from lashing out.

"How dare you call me an arrogant prat! I'm not the _freak_ of nature," Arthur spat, taking grim pleasure as Merlin flinched. Clearly, he had made an error of judgement concerning this treaty. Suddenly, he felt a cold presence against his throat; Lady Cassi had her rapier against his throat, her face a mask of rage. Chaos erupted as Arthur's knights shot to their feet, drawing their swords to defend their king. Merlin's own court also stood, ready to defend theirs, knowing that Lady Cassi wouldn't attack the king for no reason.

"I demand that you lower your sword," Arthur ordered, shifting as the sharp blade pressed a fraction harder against the vulnerable flesh of his neck.

"Not until you apologise to my king," she cried out, eyes flashing with outrage.

"Cass, what did he say?" Freya asked, saying the question that was on everyone's minds.

"He called Merlin a freak of nature," Lady Cassi said quietly, her voice filled with ice. Freya gasped and placed a hand over her mouth in shock, the crowd in front whispered angrily and the sound of a bow being drawn was audible over the sea of whispers. Will had notched an arrow and now aimed his bow at Arthur's head, his face wearing the same expression of rage as Lady Cassi.

"How dare you insult my king like that," he hissed, taking a step closer, but had a sword levelled at him as Sir Leon placed himself between Arthur and the angry knight. Will smirked. "You think you could beat me in a fight, Sir Leon. I could beat you with my eyes closed-" Will taunted but was cut off by Merlin's quiet voice.

"Don't," the king ordered in a resigned tone that held both authority and sadness. "I will not have a fight break out in my castle over a few m-meaningless words. Stand down Sir William."

"But he called you-" Will argued, not lowering his bow as he turned to his king who was slumped in his chair.

"I am well aware of what he called me and I would ask that you won't repeat it. However, as I have already explained, I will not have blood spilt in these halls tonight," Merlin interrupted his whole demeanour changing, causing Will to reluctantly lower his bow and remove the arrow from the string. "That includes you Lady Cassi," Merlin continued, standing and placing a hand on her tense shoulder.

"He deserves to pay for that comment. He has no right to say that to you after everything you have endured. Nobody says that to you and lives," she disputed, refusing to remove her sword from Arthur's throat. Her hand was steady but her voice shook with emotion as her eyes flashed. Merlin shut his eyes briefly and took a shuddering intake of breath.

"I am already fighting a war on one front, we don't need another one from another front," he said, and Lady Cassi understood his logic but a small part of her wanted to slice open the Pendragon's throat and let his blood spill over the floor. She lowered her sword and Arthur sprang back, his own in his hands almost instantly. He would not be disgraced like that. With a practiced move he swung his sword through the air in a perfectly executed killing blow; damn the consequences, he refused to have to deal with that kind of disrespect. Lady Cassi didn't have time to react as the sword descended on her but someone else did. Someone who didn't require physical means to stop the attack. Merlin froze the sword inches from Lady Cassi's neck, preventing her imminent death. Arthur felt his weapon being yanked from his grip and he watched it sail through the air, landing in Merlin's hands. The king's eyes returned to their normal blue and he openly glared at Arthur, finally properly losing his cool.

"I want you out of this kingdom by morning. I should never have allowed such a narrow minded fool to enter in the first place. You can explain to your people why you ruined the opportunity of peace and allegiance with another kingdom," Merlin spat, his voice booming around the hall.

"They will understand when I tell them how I was almost killed twice by your subjects. Maybe you should look to your own people," Arthur shot back, noticing how the rest of the hall's occupants had gone quiet.

"You forget that most of my people are sitting in this room and they witnessed with their own eyes what occurred within these walls. I have no secrets from them. Marcus will escort you back to your chambers. The rest of your party may remain if they so desire," Merlin answered coldly to Arthur before glancing at the rest of the Camelotians who didn't know what to do. Marcus stepped forward and gestured towards the doors; Arthur growled but reluctantly walked towards the exit. Sir Leon followed his king after hastily bowing to Merlin before leaving; his eyes portrayed his confusion but unwavering loyalty to his king. Percival and Gwaine exchanged a conflicted glance before stepping towards Merlin, their hands well away from their swords.

"I'm sorry that it had to end this way; I was looking forward to expanding our kingdoms' relations. However, our king is very… set in his ways and there is not much that we can do to change his thoughts. I just want to apologise on his behalf, sire," Gwaine said softly, having sobered up when swords were drawn.

"I'm sure you understand that we are loyal to him and although we may not agree with his views, he is our king. I hope that whatever trouble you are experiencing is dealt with soon. You are a good man and a good king, sire," Percival continued, equally respectfully. Merlin gave them a sad smile in response.

"Your loyalty is to be admired and I won't hold it against you. Please know that you are always welcome in Ancora if you are ever near," Merlin said, as they bowed and followed their king's trail. Galahad was the last of the Camelotians left in the room and he was the most torn. He watched as his fellow knights disappeared out of the room in contemplative silence, knowing that Merlin was awaiting his answer.

"I have greatly enjoyed my time in your kingdom, sire, and I have made it clear to you and your court that I do not share my king's beliefs concerning magic. I believe that I would be more useful here than in Camelot currently and I greatly desire to learn more about your culture. If you were agreeable I would like to stay here currently," Sir Galahad finally explained, having weighed his options against each other.

"If that is what you desire then I am happy to allow you to stay, I'm sure Sir William will be able to act as your guide when we are in a more stable position," Merlin replied, feeling a spark of happiness that Sir Galahad was staying. The knight in question nodded and bowed.

"I will inform my king of my decision," he said, striding out of the doors. When they banged shut after him, Merlin addressed his people.

"I'm sorry that such an enjoyable evening had to end the way it did but at least we now know the true feelings of Camelot's ruler. In the future, maybe we can try again to establish a better relationship with the kingdom. I hope that you enjoy the rest of tonight as I have some urgent business to attend to," Merlin stated, breaking the room's tension. He made eye contact with his court and nodded with his head towards the direction of his private chambers. They had much to discuss and plan.


	6. Chapter 6

Meeting his match: Chapter 6- Consequences

 _Chapter 6 – Consequences_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys. Sorry this took so long to update but I just finished my exams! *celebratory dance* Also, there was an error of communication between my beta, which further delayed its posting. To any readers of 'Hidden Past', I am currently working on it and should have it finished relatively soon. If you want to find out how far along I am just check my bio which has the amount of words I have for it. Thank you so much to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story, it really makes my day to read what you have to say!_

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!_

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Merlin didn't wait to see if his inner circle were following him; he had one goal in mind and that was to get as far away as possible from that hall and the people inside. Merlin knew that if he hadn't left that very second he would have collapsed and crumbled from the emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

 _Freak of nature._ Those awful, chilling words cut through Merlin's shields like an icy dagger. It had been many years since he was last called them and he never wanted to _ever_ hear them again. They weren't true, they couldn't be true, Merlin reminded himself, but a small broken part of his brain whispered that they were. Why else would all of _those_ things have happened?

Angrily, Merlin shook his head to rid himself of those poisonous words. He would not let them ruin his life again; he was stronger now, more resilient. He clenched his fists in determination and felt his magic build up under his skin like water under too much pressure. He let a trickle of it escape and a nearby Sphera exploded into a million shards of light. Merlin winced; he needed to get to his private chambers, away from people who would not be able to protect themselves from his emotions.

The oak door to said chambers appeared around a corner and obediently slammed itself open as Merlin steamed towards it, his magic leaping at the opportunity to unleash some power. His breaths were coming out in pants and he felt a wet, hotness in the corners of his eyes. He would not cry over some prejudiced king's words. He would not.

He slammed his fist into the stone of the wall behind and hissed in pain as the skin in his knuckles split and the wall rippled under his hand. Luckily, many years ago, he had set up reinforcement spells and wards around his chamber to protect it from when he could not contain his emotions. He drove his bloody knuckles into the wall a second time and felt fresh blood ooze up. With a defeated cry he sagged against the wall and slid to his knees, burying his head in his hands. Was it too much to ask for life to give him some good luck once in a while? Merlin pondered. Clearly the fates were enjoying screwing with his life too much to stop now.

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As the oak doors slammed shut behind the young king, the hall gradually settled back down again. Only the inner court members stayed frozen and tense, each one running through what to do in their mind. Freya was the first to move and she gracefully hurried out of the room, her eyes fixated ahead. As soon as she passed out of the hall, she abandoned proprietary and broke into a sprint, having lifted her skirts up. Her hair broke free of the numerous intricately woven braids and streamed out behind her like a horse's mane. She skidded to a stop, centimetres away from the door to Merlin's private rooms and was almost run down by Lady Cassi who had just as hastily followed her lead. The two women stood there panting for a few seconds, sharing indecisive looks, which quickly changed to concern as the walls rippled under Merlin's fists. They waited for the stones to settle before gently nudging the door open; Freya peeked around the edge of the door and felt her heart crack as she witnessed the shaking form of her king. She stepped into the room and knelt down by Merlin's side, placing a delicate hand on his shoulder she let him slump into her arms. She gently ran her hands through his raven hair and murmured comforting nothings into his ear as she held his shaking form. Lady Cassi quietly shut the door behind her and moved over to the large desk where a pitcher of fresh water always rested. She picked up the jug and padded over to the couple, placing the jug by Freya, who smiled at her gratefully. With a flash of gold, Freya willed the water to wrap around Merlin's injured hands and heal them. The skin knitted together and the blood was washed away by the water that evaporated when it had finished.

"Merlin? You are safe; you're here with Cassi and I. You're not locked in that place. He is dead and gone. He can't hurt you," Freya murmured as Merlin's sobs began to quieten as she continued to talk. Gradually, the trembling stopped and the warlock raised his head.

"Thank you. I j-just… those words," he stammered out and the two women immediately understood what he meant.

"Oh Merlin, you will never ever be a… freak. You are perfect; kind, humble and definitely handsome," Freya said softly, drawing a quiet chuckle from her king.

"Kind and humble yes, but I'm not so sure about that last one," Lady Cassi said from her position by the door, her sculpted eyebrows raised. Merlin's response was to send a pulse of magic that flipped her on her backside.

"Hey! I only told the truth," Lady Cassi cried out indignantly, picking herself up from off the ground and brushing down her clothing.

"There is a half full jug of water here Cass and I'm not afraid to dump that over you as well," Merlin threatened, placing a hand against the wall and levering himself upright.

"Now, now, children," Freya scolded, picking up the pitcher of water before it could be used by either side and returning it to its original position. She smiled at Lady Cassi and silently thanked her for distracting Merlin from his demons. Merlin walked slowly over to his desk and sat on the chair behind it, running his hands through his hair and sighing.

"I have consulted with Julian and we are in agreement that the day after tomorrow we should set our plans into action. I will have regained my full strength by then and had time to prepare the necessary procedures. Pendragon and his knights should be out of range as well in case his presence may cause any complications. Will you and your troops be ready?" Merlin asked, slipping back into his kingly role and shoving his problems to one side. Lady Cassi seemed to contemplate his plans for a moment before nodding.

"I believe we will be, sire. However, there is still the problem of the injured knight. What are you planning on doing with him as it will be unlikely he can travel?" she answered, causing her king's eyebrows to knit together in concentration. Clearly this was one aspect he hadn't considered.

"We will have to leave that decision up to Pendragon, I can't just throw the young knight out of the kingdom injured as he is but I doubt Pendragon will let him stay. Probably won't want me corrupting any more of his knights," Merlin muttered, wincing slightly as he anticipated Arthur's reaction when he discovered that Sir Galahad wished to stay.

"We could send one of our knights with the group while the young knight heals as insurance," Freya suggested but Merlin shook his head.

"We cannot afford to lose one of the knights currently, I need every person who can fight here," he countered resignedly.

"Leave it up to the young knight himself then. He should choose what happens," Lady Cassi said shrugging.

"Perhaps. In any case, I need to speak with him and Julian so I think a visit to the Physician's chambers are in order," Merlin finally replied, standing up and gesturing for Freya and Lady Cassi to accompany him.

The trio walked through the empty corridors in companionable silence, the two women sharing a satisfied smile that their king was in a happier mood than earlier. They both knew how deeply affected he was by his past but it was so well hidden under his almost permanent grin that it was easy to forget what he had suffered. What that man had done! It made Freya clench her hands into fists just at the thought of it. However, they both didn't fail to notice the strained set of Merlin's shoulders even if there was a small smile on his face. They closer they got to Julian's chambers the more they tensed in anticipation of who else might be in those chambers. Someone who would most definitely not appreciate the sight of the king who had just publicly ordered him out of his kingdom.

Unfortunately, luck was not on their side because as soon as they opened the creaky wooden door they were met with the sight of the entire Camelotian party inside the room. Merlin's eyes hardened and he straightened to his full height as he made eye contact with the brilliant blues of Arthur Pendragon. The foreign king in question stood up from where he had been sitting by Mordred's bedside and his knights parted to allow him to stand facing Merlin. Sir Galahad stood at the back of the room and sent Merlin an apologetic smile as his king's hand rested on the pommel of his sword.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked shortly, his anger bleeding into every syllable. Merlin rolled his eyes at the other's rudeness.

"This is my castle, in my kingdom. I wasn't aware I needed to ask your position to visit my physician's chambers," he snapped back, ignoring the look of disapproval Julian gave him.

"You made that very clear when you publicly ordered us out of your kingdom," Arthur shot back, glaring at the younger king. Merlin sighed and reigned in his temper, telling himself that violence got you nowhere as he fought the urge to punch the arrogant prat.

"Look, I didn't come here to confront you. I am only concerned with what to do with Sir Mordred. I was hoping to sort this peacefully," Merlin explained, stressing the word 'peacefully'. Arthur snorted.

"Let me guess? You want to get rid of any trace of non-magical persons before they corrupt your people?" Arthur retorted spitefully but with a hint of warning to his voice that suggested if Merlin so much as touched a hair on his knight's head, there would be hell to pay.

"Wrong on both counts, sire. Not all of the people in my kingdom possess magic and I'm leaving the decision up to Mordred. I won't throw an injured person out during a time of war," Merlin replied with as much calm as he could muster. Arthur tried to hide his surprise with a glare but it faltered slightly as he attempted to tell whether Merlin was telling the truth. There was tense silence between the two before Arthur yielded. He turned his attention from the king in front of him to Mordred who had watched the exchange with baited breath.

"Mordred, the choice is yours. You can choose to stay and recover with Sir Galahad or you may ride out with us if Gaius is happy that it won't cause any further damage," Arthur proposed to the young knight who shifted uncomfortably under the stares from the occupants of the room. His arm still ached and he wasn't looking forward to a jolting ride through the countryside but he would rather not be left behind. He looked to Gaius who gave him a nod of assent.

"I would prefer to accompany you sire," Mordred said quietly, his answer diffusing the tension in the room. Arthur didn't hide his satisfaction at not leaving behind a knight in what he considered to be hostile territory. Merlin too breathed a sigh of relief as he didn't have to worry about a foreigner getting hurt in the battle to come.

"If you are quite sure that it won't cause you any more harm then I will not stop you," Merlin responded causing Arthur to mutter under his breath something that sounded like, 'I'd like to see you try'.

"Now, I believe you and I have other things to discuss in private," Merlin continued, gesturing for Arthur to follow him into a small room off to the side of the chambers. The other king looked reluctant to go anywhere without the protection of his knights but slowly followed, allowing to king to quietly close the door behind him.

Inside, Merlin gestured to two chairs either side of a small desk and sat down on one of them, still keeping his guard up.

"I assume Sir Galahad informed you of his decision," Merlin started softly, trying to judge the other's response. Arthur straightened and his hand subconsciously shifted to his sword.

"He did. I had thought that you had enchanted him at first until my court physician persuaded me otherwise. I'm not best pleased but I won't stop him if it is his own wish to remain here. The only thing I will say is that if any harm comes to him, I will hold you solely responsible," Arthur replied with a menacing edge to his voice. Merlin sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"If he chooses to fight during the battle I cannot personally watch over him. I have thousands of other men and women fighting for me, I can't single out one man. You have fought many battles; you must understand that it won't be possible. I'd also like to make it clear that I would never have enchanted anyone without their permission or unless they were threatening me or my people," Merlin said, appealing to Arthur's own knowledge of warfare. Slowly, Arthur nodded his understanding and almost felt a spark of sympathy for the other king's situation. If it hadn't been for the attempt on his life, he would have stayed to help the king in the battle; but how could he trust a man who had allowed an honoured guest to be attacked in such a way? All he had said were three words, three words that he considered inconsequential. That was another thing that had been bothering him. Why had the king and his court reacted so aggressively?

"If I might know one thing. Why did your court react so… extremely when I insulted you? I understand that they do not wish to see you insulted but to threaten another king seems a little extreme, in the least!" Arthur asked with an undertone of anger to his voice. Merlin lowered his eyes and fidgeted slightly in his chair, his emotionless mask cracking slightly.

"It was not the fact that you insulted me, it was the particular way you insulted me," Merlin began slowly, trying to phrase his explanation carefully. He would not reveal something so sensitive to someone who clearly held no love for him or his kingdom.

Arthur looked even more confused at Merlin's response. "All I did was call you a freak of nature, I could have said something much worse," he exclaimed, failing to miss the flinch Merlin gave at the repeated insult.

"I would prefer that you didn't use that term in my presence. It may not seem that bad to you but those words mean a lot more to me than anyone else. It is like if I was to insult your mother, you would take it more harshly than someone whose mother was still alive," Merlin tried to explain without giving too much away.

"I see. Perhaps I was a little hasty with my conclusions," Arthur said, feeling another spark of understanding and sympathy for the king. He vividly remembered an incident where an unsuspecting knight had said something about his mother and he had banished the man from his kingdom under the threat of death on his return. Merlin's knights were just protecting their king. Merlin gave him a small smile.

"And perhaps I overreacted slightly. The treaty still stands if you wish to continue with it but I assume you will want to leave before the fighting begins. I don't want to drag you into my kingdom's issues," Merlin replied, just as surprised as Arthur at his own generosity. His anger had steadily trickled out of him during their conversation and he realised that Arthur did not know the words would affect him quite so much. Anger did many things to a person.

"I am glad that you are able to see past our… misunderstanding. I cannot say I am not still mistrustful of magic but I would like to be shown otherwise, if you are content to demonstrate. I would also like to point out that I have not executed another sorcerer since my father's death and that druids are allowed to live freely in Camelot," Arthur responded, pleased that he had not lost the opportunity of the alliance and that he could finally settle his conflicted views on magic.

"Again, they were words spoken in anger. Several of the druid clans in your kingdom once resided in Ancora before returning to their country of origin when it became safe to do so. I would be happy to change your mind on magic but you forget about the war. I would advise that you stay within the castle or in the infirmary if you wish to see the wonders magic can do, especially healing magic. On the battlefield a very different kind of magic will be used and I do not want you getting the wrong idea," Merlin continued, glad to see that he had been wrong about the narrow-minded nature of the king. He had been worried that he had made an enemy of the powerful Pendragon.

"It is against my nature to stand by and do nothing while others fight but we do not fully trust each other. Prove to me that I can trust you, and I and my knights will fight by your side," Arthur suggested, brushing off his anger in favour of an attempt to rekindle a strong partnership. Merlin looked conflicted; he could use the help of such strong warriors but he did not want the consequences of the death of one of them to fall on his kingdom. He also, couldn't shake off the mistrust he still held for the king, but perhaps Arthur would gain his trust over time too.

"I can't say I am happy that you wish to fight but I don't want to force you not to, as we could use the help of strong fighters; but know this, if I ever catch a word of prejudice from you or your knights, I will not be so forgiving," Merlin finally decided, the last part being said with steel in his voice. Arthur tried to hide his nervous swallow and instead offered his hand to settle the deal. Merlin firmly shook it and stood.

"The others have no doubt been straining to hear our conversation. Shall we enlighten them?" Merlin smirked, holding his hand out to clasp the other's wrist in a gesture of hope and peace as the other had done a few moments earlier. Arthur grasped Merlin's hand firmly and stood up as well, feeling altogether like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Merlin cautiously opened the door, half expecting to have his and Arthur's courts descend on him the second he poked his head out. Luckily, they were all in various positions sprawled across the room, looking in no mood ready to descend on anyone. In fact, Julian was the first person to notice the two kings' reappearance; he bustled over to them and smiled warmly.

"I trust that you have reached an agreement seeing as you are both in one, undamaged piece," he remarked, causing the room's occupants to start and leap to their feet, except Mordred who just raised his head sharply.

"You are correct, Julian. Arthur has agreed to fight with us if we earn each other's trust and we have put aside the comments exchanged earlier at the feast as rash and meaningless," Merlin answered with a smile, directing his answer to the whole room as well as his court physician. There were a few mumbled outcries from Merlin's court as they glared at Arthur but the Camelotians seemed satisfied with the outcome. Lady Cassi strode over to her king, hand still wrapped around the pommel of her rapier.

"Have you told him the reasoning behind your reaction at the feast?" she demanded, her eyes blazing with protectiveness and worry. Merlin shifted slightly, feeling the unasked questions cloud the air with curiosity.

"Not fully. I explained the general idea but not the details as they are too personal currently for discussion. Anyway, I will schedule a tour of the citadel tomorrow as well as a training session with the knights to get them accustomed to fighting against magic users. Then we will need to go over the battle plans including the recent developments," Merlin said, softly at first but raising his voice at the end so the knights could hear the plans. Merlin looked to Arthur for his approval and the king nodded before preparing to leave in order to return to his rooms. However, Gaius stepped forward from his position from Mordred's bed.

"If I may, sires. Would it not be a good idea to gain each other's trust by agreeing to answer one question fully on whatever the other wishes?" the elderly physician suggested and Julian nodded his agreement, having realised that the two would never trust each other fully until questions had been asked and answered. Merlin froze and shut his eyes briefly as if collecting himself, he turned to face the physician. Arthur too, spun around to raise his eyebrows at his physician.

"I will think on your idea, Gaius but I can't say I'm comfortable with it. I will give you my answer tomorrow after the tour and training so that we both have time to fully decide on what to do," Merlin answered cautiously, his tone indicating how uncomfortable he was with the concept, clearly there were things in his past that he did not want to share with the other king. Gaius bowed his head and smiled at the young king.

"A sensible condition, your majesty. I will be spending the day with Julian if you want to find me," Gaius informed Merlin, who nodded his understanding and turned on his heel to leave with his court who had watched the exchange with closed expressions. As soon as he was out the door and halfway down the corridor, Will grabbed his shoulder and steered him into a passageway.

"What are you thinking, Merlin?! Agreeing to terms like that: you know exactly what he will ask and are you really ready to share that with a shallow minded fool?" Will exclaimed.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Will. You should know that better than anyone. What Gaius is proposing is not a bad idea and you forget that I haven't agreed to the terms yet anyway," Merlin responded, shaking Will's hands off his shoulders and leaning against the cool stone behind him.

"And you forget that if you agree, you will have to relive every moment of terror that man inflicted on you. Do you want to put yourself through that just to gain another king's trust?" Will snapped back, his anger at his king's past suffering rolling off him in sparking waves.

"I will do whatever I must do to keep this kingdom safe and prosperous. If that is by retelling some painful memories, then that is what I will do. Arthur is no shallow minded fool; he disproves that statement just by being here and by understanding the actions of Lady Cassi at the feast," Merlin answered passionately, turning away from his knight but Will grabbed his arm.

"I still don't like him. If he so much as moves a finger suspiciously, I won't hesitate…" Will said, causing his king to chuckle.

"Says the person who tried to kill me the first time we met!" he replied exasperatedly, continuing down the passageway towards his chambers leaving Will behind with his mouth opening and shutting like a fish.

"I'm beginning to wish that I had succeeded!" Will shouted after Merlin in annoyance. From further down the corridor Merlin's voice echoed back to him, filled with humour.

"Wishing to kill your king is treason, Will!"


	7. Chapter 7

Meeting his match: Chapter 7- Welcome to Ancora

 _Chapter 7 – Welcome to Ancora_

 _Warning/s: None_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin_

 _A/N: Hi guys… I'm going to start with a massive apology to all of you out there who read any of my stories. I have finally gained some free time in my schedule to write as exams and school have ended, this year has been incredibly hectic and my writing has been spotty at best. I hate that it took me this long to finally post a new chapter and I hate disappointing my readers by making you wait. Thank you so much to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story, it really makes my day to read what you have to say especially when I hadn't updated in months! Finally, to see how far along I am with new chapters just check the bottom of my bio where I publish the word counts and whether they have been betaed._

 _Enjoy!_

 _Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this, she's stuck with me all this time!_

* * *

The vaults beneath the castle in Ancora were unlike the Camelot ones. Where there were cobwebs in Camelot, there were polished sandstone walls in Ancora; where there were flickering torches trapped in their warped metal fastenings, there were gleaming Sphera lining the walls; where there were dull, dusty, forgotten portraits and artefacts, there were spotless, well-loved paintings and items. The stark contrast was down not to any fault of Arthur's, but the frequency of the visits each place received from the two respective monarchs. Why look after something you hardly ever see? Merlin visited the vaults under his castle almost once every week, travelling through the bright corridors and tunnels to brush his hands over the pieces of history. Two items in particular drew him to the vaults the most, and it was these particular objects that had, once again, caused him to descend into them.

Merlin slowly traced his finger across the strong defined features of his father; the grey tinged beard, bushy eyebrows and untameable straggling locks of hair, something Merlin himself had inherited, only he kept it shorter. He tweaked the painting ever so slightly to make sure it was hanging perfectly straight before taking a step back and running a hand through his own hair.

"Father… if ever I had needed your guidance it would have been now. I find myself lost… I don't know what to do to keep the people and those I care about safe. I know that we only ever had a few moments together as a family but you told me that I had made you proud, you told me to be strong, but… I don't know how to do that anymore." Merlin sank to his knees in front of the painting, his father's kind eyes meticulously captured in paint holding his gaze.

"I have so many choices to make, decisions that could mean the death of our people and my friends. You and mother would know what to do; you always did... but I cannot ask your advice due to my own stupidity. I lost both of you because I trusted the wrong people. How can I know that Arthur won't do the same?" Merlin continued to say, turning his gaze to the other portrait, hanging next to Balinor's. His mother's gentle beauty had been captured magnificently before worry lines had creased her forehead and shadows grown under her eyes. Her brown hair was pictured flowing down her back with two pieces on either side twisted to keep it out of her face, the simple gold crown perched atop it. A single tear silently screamed down Merlin's cheek as his heart ached for the woman he had been ripped from so young in his life, only to be re-united years later and then to lose her for good.

"I miss you both so much that it hurts me more than I can express in words, like my heart is being ripped apart. However, I know that you would and have always told me to follow my heart. Now, my heart is telling me to trust Arthur and I hope that I am choosing correctly. I-I hope that I make you proud to have called me son wherever you are now," Merlin stammered out, his decision made. He got to his feet and stared for a few more seconds at the pictures of his parents before moving away to get some sleep.

* * *

Arthur was awoken the next morning by Leon gently shaking his arm. Sunlight was streaming through his opened curtains and lighting up the room, telling him that it was well past dawn.

"King Merlin has sent word that he will meet you in the Courtyard in half an hour, and that any others of the party may join you," Leon informed him while placing a plate of food on the nearby table. Arthur just grunted in acknowledgement before heaving himself out of his nice, warm bed and shuffling over to his dressing screen to change.

"Do any others want to join us?" Arthur asked from behind the screen, his voice slightly muffled from the tunic he was pulling over his head.

"Percival, Gwaine and Galahad have stated their interest," Leon listed as Arthur reappeared from behind the screen and started to hunt for his boots.

"What about Gaius?" Arthur questioned, a hint of frustration leaking into his voice as his boots continued to elude him. Leon watched his king bend down to look under the bed and attempted to withhold his laughter; he was only partially successful as he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"I believe that Julian offered to show him around at another time. I got the impression that their idea of interesting attractions would be very different from our own," Leon paused and clenched his hand into a fist as Arthur practically growled in annoyance at finding a cobweb entwined with his hair. "Your b-boots are under the desk, sire," he finished with only one slight stutter of laughter escaping him. Arthur nodded his thanks and retrieved the articles, which were indeed sitting smugly under his desk. He slipped them on and reached out to quickly eat the breakfast Leon had brought up.

"Any idea as to what we will be seeing on this tour?" he asked finally, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"No, sire. King Merlin's exact words were: 'I want to surprise the… um… regal… prat," Leon replied awkwardly, seeing his own surprise from when Merlin had informed him mirrored on Arthur's face before it morphed into a look of determination.

"I'll get him for that comment," Arthur muttered, already plotting ways to embarrass the younger man.

-In the Courtyard-

Merlin was waiting for Arthur with a pleased little smirk on his face, he had already mapped out the route of the tour in his mind and couldn't wait to show the other ruler the wonders of magic. The pride for his nation evident in his eyes as he observed everyday life, Merlin couldn't imagine what would have happened to Ancora if… well he didn't want to lose himself in those dark thoughts. Instead he turned his mind to other things: he had arranged to meet Freya at the Healer's Guild and then later on the others for the training session. The echoing of heeled boots drew his attention from his musings as he whirled around to greet the other king, and Leon.

Arthur nodded to Merlin in greeting, raising an eyebrow at the other ruler's excited air which was almost verging on childlike in its brightness.

"I'm going to warn you now that a lot of what you are about to see has never been witnessed by a foreign nation, and I would greatly appreciate if you kept these sights to yourselves," Merlin began to explain as the rest of the party appeared. "Magic has been the basis for this nation and its people for centuries so, as expected, there will be regular usage of it around you. Please just be aware of this," Merlin continued cheerfully, making sure that the group realised the true scale of magical acts.

"We understand that you are a magical kingdom and do realise that there will be magic being used," Arthur answered, trying not to appear like he was that ignorant. The other king just gave him a knowing smile, one that said they had no idea what they were in for.

"Well then. Let's begin. I thought we would start with a quick wander through the main hub of the city, before heading to the Arbitrium which I will explain more about later," Merlin said, gesturing for the group to follow him out of the main gates and into the city. The majority of the houses mirrored the stone, only different by the sandy colour. The roofs were clay tiles but Arthur noted the absence of chimneys, and he mentioned as much to Merlin.

"The majority of the population don't use fires to cook on or heat water with, those who possess magic simply use their abilities to heat items which doesn't generate smoke. However, those without tend to use flat stones with heating enchantments," he explained, pausing to point out some of the stones on a nearby stall.

The streets were paved with even, flattened cobbles well worn by the numerous feet that passed over them regularly, but had remained free of cracks still. Window boxes filled to bursting point with plants and flowers decorated nearly every window and free space, creating bursts of colour in the landscape. Although a few people wandered the streets, they appeared and disappeared with unusual haste as if only the desperate wished to brave them.

"There are usually more people outside but my people tend to get nervous around Camelotians. Many are refugees or children of refugees from Uther's Camelot; perhaps they may return home in the near future," Merlin spoke, seemingly reading Arthur's mind, who felt a small pang of guilt at the knowledge. He settled instead for a small noncommittal noise, avoiding answering Merlin's unasked question.

"The market should still be busy though. I could count the number of times it has been cancelled on one hand," the other king joked, leading them through a narrower alleyway out into the bustle of a crowded market square. A fountain marked the centre of the space with a stone Kelpie rearing up, water streaming from its open mouth. However, much to the knights and Arthur's surprise, the stone water horse returned to four hoofs and proceeded to walk the perimeter of the fountain basin, water still continuing to shoot from its mouth.

"Does it normally do that?" Percival asked as his awed eyes followed the kelpie's movements.

"To some extent; it tends to become a little bit of a show off when I visit the market. One of the magic students thought it would be entertaining to see if they could enchant the statue to become animated for a festival. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they made the charm too potent and have been unable to reverse it," Merlin laughed as he walked up to the prancing statue and patted it on the nose.

"He's perfectly harmless," he continued, noticing the unnerved looks of his companions. Not to be outdone, Arthur strode forwards and reached out a hand to stroke the beast's mane. He received a jet of water to the face for his efforts, much to the amusement of his knights and the townsfolk who had witnessed the event. Quiet titters and murmurings broke out in the surrounding crowds while the proud nickers of the kelpie were very audible. Arthur felt his cheeks flushing as he turned the same colour as his cloak.

"I am so sorry, Arthur. He has never done that before," Merlin hastily exclaimed, doing his best to conceal his own chuckles and attempt to look reprovingly at the statue. "You don't mind if I use a little magic to dry you?" Arthur shook his head and tried to keep his shudder internal as he felt a breeze brush over his skin, the water evaporating with it.

"Shall we continue? There are a few stalls here that Camelot certainly won't have."

Arthur re-joined his knights and glared at their amused faces, particularly at Gwaine, who was still attempting to catch his breath after his laughter. The group passed by several stalls selling meats, breads and cloth almost identical to the ones found in Camelot, with the exceptions of some of the finer materials which boasted magically enhanced properties. Arthur couldn't help but notice the distrustful expressions on the merchants and customers alike as they watched the party, the crowds parting easily for their king up ahead. Merlin stopped in front of an open roofed stall with shelves upon shelves of crystals, beads and vials of powder. He frowned at some of the tiny labels and held one vial up to the sun, inspecting the contents.

"Mathieu, would you care to tell our guests what this is?" Merlin asked the stall owner, a short, slight man in his early thirties who shifted in surprise at the question.

"Well, your majesty… er, majesties. It is a vial of ground eucalyptus bark," the man explained and Merlin turned to raise one eyebrow at him.

"Are you quite certain of that? Because it looks more like ground oak bark and soil. You appear to have a few labelling issues, Mathieu. I would change that quartz label to rock salt as well; we wouldn't want there to be a problem here, now would we?" Merlin questioned the flustered merchant who was nervously wringing his hands.

"N-no, your majesty. I will sort the, erm, issues immediately," Mathieu responded, grabbing the mentioned items and packing them away into a crate.

"Good," Merlin replied, lingering to make sure that the offending products stayed packed away and didn't accidently reappear on the shelves. Arthur watched with amusement as the merchant stumbled and blushed but curiously inspected the rest of the wares, wondering what they could be used for.

"Why would people wish to buy crystals or beads and such? Surely their money would be better spent on practical items," Arthur asked when the group had moved away from earshot of the stall. Merlin laughed.

"Perhaps in Camelot they wouldn't be considered practical but here, they would be used in charms or enchantments. Although mainly basic ones such as in the creation of dream spells, which ward against nightmares," he explained, leading the group over to the other side of the market where a row of stalls mirrored the streets' window boxes with plants of all descriptions spilling from the tables and shelves. Gwaine let out an impressed whistle at the sheer array of vegetation.

"I can see the need for flower stalls, as what young lady doesn't love a bunch of roses but why," he gestured to one stall in particular, that was so full of leafy green plants that it looked like it was one huge overgrown bush, "sell boring bushes?"

Merlin raised his eyebrows in surprise, leading them closer to stall and smiling at the owner, who was only just visible through the foliage. He picked a jagged leaf from a thin stemmed plant with white flowers. He crushed the leaf in his hand and rubbed them together, turning it into a green paste before offering it up for the group to smell.

"This is yarrow, we use it for medicines and some healing spells. Do you not sell herbs in Camelot markets? Lots of my people buy it as a medical staple," Merlin explained, cleaning his hands with a golden glow of his eyes.

"Well… Gaius does use herbs in his medicine, but I believe his apprentice tends to pick them from the surrounding woodlands. I don't know of any stalls that sell herbs currently, nor any common folk who buy it. I believe they rely on the town doctors for any health problems," Arthur answered, wondering if the ban on magic had prevented such stalls from appearing. Had his father's laws placed further hardship on the people in ways that he had never thought of? Merlin hummed in thought but didn't make any further comments on the subject, simply leading them away and towards a stall built against the side of a house. It had a more permanent quality to the construction and the view of the wares had Galahad's eyes lighting up in delight. Merlin smiled as the knight practically bounded over to the stall and carefully raised a bow from its hook, examining with the same level of tenderness as if holding a new-born baby.

"I thought you would enjoy this stall," Merlin said with a laugh. "Oliver here and his sons have been making bows and arrows in Ancora for decades."

The man in question raised his head from where he had been carving the shaft of an arrow to look at the group. He bowed his head at his king and placed his tools on a nearby bench to move closer.

"I see you have brought someone who actually understands how to handle a bow properly, sire," Oliver said with a note of teasing to his voice. Merlin merely shrugged in response.

"You know that it's all weapons I can't handle, Oliver. Not just bows!" he said with a note of exasperation to his voice. Arthur and Leon shared a surprised look: for a king not to be able to handle weapons and for a commoner to speak with such familiarity were unheard of. How on earth had the kingdom survived? A disapproving frown crossed briefly over his face at the lack of responsibility such weakness showed. A shout of 'sire' rang out across the market and both Merlin and Arthur's head snapped around, responding instinctively to the call. A young man was running through the crowds towards the group. He took a moment to breathe before inclining his head to whisper something in Merlin's ear. The king grimaced and turned back to his companions.

"I apologise, but a situation has come up that requires my attention for a few minutes. I hope you don't mind me leaving you with Oliver for this time while I sort it out," he explained and Arthur nodded his assent, trying to ignore the puppy dog eyes Galahad was giving him at the prospect of more time examining the bows. "I will return shortly," Merlin finished, striding with the young man a few paces behind into the crowds.

"You don't approve of how the king interacts with us, do you, your majesty?" Oliver said after a few moments of silence. Arthur looked up at the older man, startled at his courage.

"I do not think a man's birth should define his position but I wonder how wise it is to be so informal with common folk, it could be seen as weakness. A naivety if you will," Arthur replied, a touch imperiously. Oliver tilted his head with a small smile on his face as if amused by Arthur.

"The king is anything but naïve. He has seen and suffered more than yourself, your majesty. His weakness, as you put it, has earned him the loyalty of many of his subjects. The majority of the crowds you see before you would not hesitate to defend him. Would you say your own subjects would do the same?" Oliver answered wisely, resuming his graceful carving of the arrow. Arthur opened his mouth to reply in the positive but paused, not feeling certain that he wouldn't be lying. His people did respect him as a ruler but more than that he wasn't sure.

"Arthur has the loyalty of his knights, common born and noble alike," Gwaine said, while Arthur pondered this question. The man was uncharacteristically serious in his tone.

"That was never in question, Sir Knight. You trust him because you have protected each other and fought together. To be loved by the general population as my king is, is altogether different. He is one of us just as he is a ruler," Oliver remarked, with a fire to his voice that spoke of a deep respect and love for his king. Gwaine had no words to respond so settled for a curious inclination of his head in acknowledgement of the statement.

"Now, Sir Knight. Are you going to buy that yew bow which you have not put down all the while we have been speaking, or would the two of you like some alone time?" Oliver asked, amused, as the knight startled, his cheeks flaming with colour.

"It is a lovely bow but I already have my own, which I could not bear to replace," Galahad conceded sadly, slinging his bow from his shoulder and laying it on the table for Oliver to inspect.

"Aye, and a very fine one it is."

"High praise indeed from you, Oliver," Merlin's voice said from behind them as he emerged from the throng. His clothes and hair were speckled with dust and his hands were similarly dirtied.

"There was a small incident with two carts that required some quick spell work to repair the damage," he continued, attempting to brush the dust off but only succeeding in smudging it further. "I'm sorry to drag you away from the bows, Sir Galahad, but we must be going if we want to visit the Arbitrium as well."

Arthur nodded his assent which was mirrored by all but Sir Galahad, who gazed balefully at the bows he had not yet examined. Arthur quelled the beginnings of laughter as he watched one of his senior knights reduced to the intelligence and mentality of a child.

"If I promise to have Sir William show you the rest at a later date, will you be persuaded to leave?" Merlin suggested with a grin as the knight's face practically lit up with childish glee at the thought. He took a step away from the stall with a grimace.

"That does sound amicable," he answered, moving to take up his previous position behind his king where he was immediately set upon by various elbows from the other knights. Arthur rolled his eyes at their behaviour but made no move to correct it, if they hadn't been in the presence of the other king he would probably have allowed himself to join in. He glanced at Merlin, curious to see his reaction and was heartened to see that he was merely observing them with a fond smile.

"Gwaine, do please refrain from putting Galahad in a headlock. I would like to make it to this Arbitrium place by tonight," Arthur instructed the man who cheerfully released Galahad with a ruffle of the hair and a muffled murmur of 'as you wish, Princess'.

* * *

The group finally made it to the twisted iron gates of the Arbitrium after several delays (mainly caused by Gwaine, who had not been able to tell the difference between a goat's hind legs and those of a very angry faun trying to reach something under a cart). Needless to say, the two kings had been forced to do some quick-fire negotiations and in Merlin's case resort to bribery by offering the faun a knitted red scarf.

Gwaine was still grumbling quietly to himself when the carved walls and turrets of the Arbitrium came into view. He was abruptly silenced. The magical academy consisted of a large quadrangle made predominantly of the same white stone that the castle was made from, except where the castle's had been etched into bricks, these were left raw and untampered. The stones were jagged and irregular in texture and size, some with huge gouges scoured deep into them while others bore only slight scratches. Between these boulders, windows and arches were carved, peeking out like only just awakened eyes lidded by craggy overhangs. The tops of the buildings were decorated with gargoyle-like statues but only in the shapes of four mythical creatures: a dragon, unicorn, phoenix and Griffin. The corners of the building each bore a larger version of one of these creatures in the centre, and were raised above the conjoining sections to form small towers. Surrounding the Arbitrium was a shallow moat with a pebbled bottom, and every so often a glint of silver would signify the presence of a shoal of small fish as the sun danced across their scales.

However, there was no bridge, not even some stepping stones, to allow access through the large archway just across the water from the party. Through which a grassy courtyard could be seen, dotted with students. Noticing their puzzled expressions, Merlin hastily explained the situation.

"It's a tradition that every year the newest selection of students have to design and enchant a new way to cross the moat. We've had drawbridges and embedded spellwork that parts the water; once a few years back they decided to grow a huge lily pad to form a bridge," Merlin chuckled, remembering the numerous issues that method had brought up, especially when it had continued to grow larger and larger without the students prompting it to.

"And what is it this year?" Leon asked, his voice tinged with slight nervousness at the thought of trusting the inexperienced spells of strangers to prevent him from ending up in the water. Merlin grinned back at them and it did nothing to reassure the party. In fact, it made them doubly nervous, as it was the kind of grin that children give their parents when they have just filled their shoes with slime.

Merlin whistled, and from the bottom of the moat a truly huge flatfish floated up. Its mottled brown and grey skin matched the pebbles lining the rest of the bottom perfectly, leaving it virtually invisible when sunken. It flapped merrily for a few seconds before settling into an even surface floating on the top of the water.

"We think it's some species of ray but God knows where they found the lovely fellow," Merlin responded cheerfully, crouching down to run a hand over the sandpaper-like skin.

"Doesn't it hurt the animal to… you know walk on it?" Percival questioned uncomfortably, glancing at the two beady eyes staring up at him from the far end of the ray bridge.

"Oh no. His skin is about as thick as paving stones, he can't even feel us walking on him," Merlin reassured the knight, taking a confident step onto the ray's back and gesturing for the others to follow him. Extremely gingerly, Arthur placed one booted foot on the animal and paused before following it with the other foot. There was almost no difference between walking on the road and on the creature. Cautiously, he moved to join the other king midway along the bridge, his knights soon following his example, albeit with much more stuttering strides that sped up the further along they moved. Until, with obvious relief, they stepped onto the stone slabs of the entrance. Merlin whistled once more and the creature submerged beneath the water's surface to settle on the bottom again leaving a trail of fine bubbles in its wake.

The Camelotians now had a much better view of the courtyard, which had a towering oak tree in the centre, twisted and deformed with age but casting a wizened air of satisfaction over the grassy area. On the other side of the quad, robed students darted in and out of doorways, some laden with books others with a variety of unusual artefacts.

"Welcome to the Arbitrium- our school of magic," Merlin said as if it was the most normal thing for him to be stood a whole school dedicated to the study of magic - which, to be fair, was probably the case for him, Arthur mused. He wouldn't admit that he felt comfortable in this place, the air felt too heavy and bore an unnatural charge to it, but he was in awe of the architecture.

"Do different students study different aspects of magic- if there are such sections?" Galahad asked hesitantly, obviously unsure on the divisions of magic.

"All new students study an overview of magic unless they have an innate ability or wish to be healer. Later on, in their studies, they can specialise, but most tend to take a general approach," Merlin answered with a smile, beginning to walk again. He was heading towards the shaded circle beneath the protective branches of the tree at the centre of the courtyard.

"What do you mean by innate abilities?" Arthur ventured with confusion - sorcery had to be learnt. You couldn't just be born with it!

"Some people are born with very specific skills, such as the ability to have visions in their dreams, or to communicate with people's minds without the aid of spells. To have an innate ability is to have a greater connection with magic," Merlin explained, twisting his hand in the air to create a small dancing flame in the palm with a flash of golden eyes. Arthur's hands twitched instinctively for his weapon as did Leon's, but he made no move to draw.

"That's impossible! You can't be born with magic," he exclaimed and Merlin raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying that I would lie to you?" Merlin said quietly, the flame flickering out with a pop of embers as he closed his hand. "Ask your physician. I think you will find that I am not lying to you."

"Who doubts you, sire?" Lady Cassi asked, her voice low and dangerous as she appeared as if emerging from the tree's bark itself. She wore the same tunic and breeches as the previous day and her hair remained twisted into a tight plait down her back, and her rapier hung loosely from her belt.

"Do not go looking for trouble, Cass. You will have plenty of opportunity to fight them soon and I don't doubt you will win," Merlin answered calmly, his eyes twinkling as the knights behind him spluttered indignantly.

"I'm looking forward to it, sire," she said smirking, her eyes travelling along the group and clearly finding faults with each.

"But… but… we can't fight a-" Gwaine started to say but found himself silenced by multiple hands shoved over his mouth.

"If you were about to finish that sentence with because I'm female then be glad that your friends have more sense than you," Lady Cassi snarled, fingering the handle of her rapier and glaring. Slowly, the hands were removed when Gwaine made no attempts to protest. He ducked his head in apology and glanced sheepishly at the others who were also glaring at him though with much less heat.

"Come on. We might as well head for the training grounds then," Merlin said into the growing awkward silence. Arthur hurriedly nodded his agreement, looking forward to a good fight that would hopefully diffuse the tension between the two parties.

The training grounds were located midway between the castle and the Arbitrium so that both knights and sorcerers could practice easily. It consisted mainly of rectangles of grass, gravel and sand with a few weapons stands dotted around. A few pairs were already occupying some of the areas, some fighting magically, others with only weapons and, surprisingly to Arthur, some using a combination.

"Oh, this will be good!" Merlin exclaimed, hurrying over to a pitch where two women were squaring off, two wooden staffs in their hands. Out of interest, the others followed, eager to assess the other kingdom's fighting technique and style. Arthur was surprised to see the staffs which were rarely used in Camelot, with the knights choosing to use actual weapons or wooden swords.

"They're sisters you see, have been training together since they were old enough to know how," Merlin explained, standing a metre back from the sand of the pitch. "I've known their fights to last for more than an hour when they are feeling particularly stubborn."

The two sisters seemed oblivious to their appreciative audience; their eyes were locked, each daring the other to make the first move. The only warning the audience received was the slight tightening of a hand on its staff before the slightly taller sister swung her staff low. Her opponent jumped the strike and returned it with a jab of her own. They jabbed, swung and blocked in an intricate dance of clashing wood that only they knew the steps too, darting away from each other only to leap back.

"Just wait until they start casting!" Lady Cassi exclaimed suddenly, her voice and expression, for the first time, displaying something other than disgust or disdain. Her eyes were bright and her body leant forward in anticipation. As if on command, a streak of green exploded out of the shorter girl's staff with a muttered string of words. It was hastily blocked by the other's staff, where it wrapped around the stick before changing colour and being sent back. A hasty duck and roll sent the woman to safety but her opponent gave her little time to recover before vines sprouted from the ground to wrap around her ankles. She let out an indignant shout before burning the vines into ash with a flash of golden eyes; the flames didn't die out and instead they grew hotter and brighter, burning white with intensity. Arthur could feel the warmth from his position to the right of Merlin and marvelled at how she could stand so close and not burn. The fire was swiftly formed into a wave directed at the taller woman who crouched down as the onslaught of flames approached. The Camelotians watched as she dug her hands into the ground, the staff lying straight between them. The fire crashed over her. The knights winced at the intensity, Leon even closing his eyes as the light burnt brighter. Finally, the wave ended and the caster was left panting from the magic expended. On the other side, her sister was no longer visible, as a dome of mud has hardened into a protective shell around her. It crumbled away after a moment and she emerged, shaking her head to rid her hair of the dust. The both grinned at each other and slung their arms around their shoulders before moving towards Merlin and Lady Cassi. Their king was clapping and smiling widely at them.

"Spectacular! Your control over the fire has certainly improved, Clarisse. Not to mention that shield, Tess. I assume you combined a cooling spell with the dome?" Merlin congratulated them. The taller sister nodded in confirmation of his assumption before elbowing her sister.

"This little devil didn't even warn me she would be using fire," Tess complained with a mock-glare.

"I've got to keep you on your toes, Tess," Clarisse teased back with a smug smirk. Merlin laughed at their antics before waving them off.

"Be off with you two. I'm sure you're both tired after that and I can feel Cass getting impatient to wipe the floor with this lot."

Lady Cassi grinned beside him and the two sisters shared a smile as they gazed between the group and the lady. Arthur throw back his shoulders and lifted his head at their stare, he refused to be imitated. Clarisse's eyes sparkled with the knowledge that they had sparked his pride before dragging her sister off with only a passing shout over her shoulder: "Don't forget you promised to let us fight you at some point."

Merlin grimaced at the words and let out a small groan. Galahad sent him a questioning glance.

"The whole city seems to get word of our fights and comes to watch," he answered, cheeks heating slightly at the thought. Lady Cassi unsheathed her sword and stabbed it into the sand at one end of the training area. She pulled on a pair of butter-soft leather gloves from a pocket and stepped onto the sand, boots crunching as she reached her sword.

"Is that a hint?" Merlin chuckled as she pulled her rapier free and twirled it around in a circle, the wind whistled as it met the metal edges. She raised her head at his words and tilted her head innocently to one side as if to say: 'Who me? I would never be so forward.'

"Pick your man then, Arthur. Lady Cassi would like to fight and I did promise you a look at our training," Merlin said to the other king, knowing that he would not refuse the challenge. Arthur paused and examined his options, running through which knight to choose.

"Gwaine, you can redeem your earlier actions," Arthur decided, a little too gleefully in the chosen knight's opinion who glared at his king but unclipped his cloak anyway. He folded the item up and tossed it neatly onto the grass, brushing a hand through his straggly brown locks as he moved away.

"Your wish is my command, Princess," he replied, pulling his sword free and moving to face Lady Cassi on the other side of the pitch. He lifted his sword and parted his feet, staring down the edge of his blade at the lady who stared right back, unwavering.

"Begin," Merlin instructed after looking to the other king for confirmation. The two knights circled each other, tracing ditches into the sand as they moved. Gwaine's fingers twitched as he gripped his sword's handle, trying to judge when to attack. Cassi's eyes tracked the movement and she struck, her rapier swung towards his waist only to slide against Gwaine's own sword as he blocked. He shoved against the weapon forcing it off his blade only to have it clash down again. He found himself forced onto the defensive as his opponent unleashed a series of lightning fast thrusts and swings that he only just managed to block.

Arthur watched with a slight sense of irritation as Gwaine was forced to take a step back to give himself some breathing space. He had to give it to the lady though; she was good, and annoyingly so. Lady Cassi allowed Gwaine to step away but left her sword raised to brush against his as if daring him to attack her. He narrowed his eyes at the taunt and batted her sword away, trying to push an advantage by using his superior strength to force her defence to weaken but again found himself being parried in a way that meant he overshot each time. Suddenly, Lady Cassi dropped low to the ground and swung her leg out, wiping Gwaine's legs out from under him as she blocked his downward strike. He landed heavily on his back but rolled to the side as her sword cut through the air he had previously occupied. She swung again and he hastily brought his sword up to stop his shoulder being slashed. He levered himself up by grabbing his adversary's arm when she attempted to move away. Lady Cassi growled and shook her arm free but Gwaine was already back on his feet.

The air shimmered beside her and Gwaine was left shaking his head in disbelief as he stared between two Lady Cassis'. He blinked rapidly and scrubbed a hand over his eyes but the image never changed.

"Is it just me that's seeing two of her?" he asked worriedly, wondering whether he had hit his head when he had fallen.

"No, I'm seeing two as well," Percival reassured his friend, having just pinched himself. Arthur glanced at Merlin who seemed unbothered by the sudden multiplication of his knight, he acted like this was a regular occurrence.

"Oh, did I fail to mention that I have some magical ability?" Lady Cassi laughed, her clone raising its sword with a flick. Gwaine gulped and tried to re-focus on the fight instead of the magic, he would not let this weird apparition distract him.

"No, funnily you didn't. Can that, uh… thing actually do damage?" he replied as the two women approached.

"Let's see," Lady Cassi said, lunging at him while her clone followed through with a strike aimed at his legs. Gwaine dodged the swipe and blocked the lunge while trying to flick his sword in such a way that it would jolt the real Lady Cassi's out of her hand. She felt the unpleasant twist of her sword but changed her grip to compensate, moving to slash at Gwaine's chest; he leapt back but forgot about the clone. The air whooshed out of his lungs as a sword pommel punched into his stomach, winding him and forcing him to hunch over. He only just managed to lift his sword in time as Lady Cassi and her clone pressed forwards, both swords striking his as they swung. He grunted at the force of keeping his sword straight under the pressure of two, choosing to twist and deflect the strikes off. However, he left his back unprotected, and something crashed into the back of his knees sending him once again to the floor. This time he found two sword points embedded either side of his neck as the blades crossed above him. He relaxed his grip on his sword and sighed in frustration as his vision was filled with the identical smirks off the foreign knight.

The actual Lady Cassi stretched out a hand to help him up while her clone faded out of sight with a murmured command.

"That's a neat trick," Gwaine remarked as he regained his breath once upright. Lady Cassi inclined her head in acknowledgement.

"It is useful in battle but you weren't too bad yourself," she said, returning to her king's side and sheathing her rapier.

"Thanks," Gwaine muttered, rubbing at his stomach with one hand and wincing slightly.

"Does anyone else wish to fight Lady Cassi?" Merlin asked, already knowing the answer, having watched the fear, awe and amazement pass over the Camelotians' faces as they had watched. He received a sea of shaking heads in return.

"Cowards," Gwaine complained under his breath, still feeling sore from his defeat.

"Why don't we try against each other, Merlin? You must carry a sword," Arthur suggested, offended that the other king should think him afraid to fight a woman, even one as skilled as Lady Cassi. He had noted the lack of engraved sheath a while back but had forgotten to comment on it earlier. Merlin stilled and moved his cloak to one side to reveal only the presence of a dagger hanging from his belt.

"I do not carry a sword nor do I choose to use one. I unfortunately do not possess the same skills that you, your knights or even my own do," he explained softly and Arthur could detect a faint hint of regret and guilt in his voice.

"But you far surpass my or their skills in others, sire," Lady Cassi said loudly, daring the knights to shame her king for his inability to use a sword.

"This is an unusual kingdom, I should have expected such a response from a… magic user such as yourself," Arthur replied, showing no sign that he thought any less of the king for his decision only surprise.

"You would be among the first. Many other monarchs I have spoken to view it as a weakness," Merlin said, and this time the regret was very obvious on his face and in his tone.

"You showed them it was not," Lady Cassi hastened to add, her hand squeezing his shoulder. Merlin smiled and seemed to draw himself together, allowing his cloak to fall back into its original position with a rustle of cloth.

In the distance, the midday bell tolled and broke the slightly awkward silence that had developed.

"Come, we will break for lunch and afterwards, my knights have organised a training session to help accustom you to battlefield magic while I explain to Arthur the details of the conflict."


End file.
